


Re-Building What's Been Lost

by Bernie_ce0702



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU, Adorable Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Cute Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), F/M, Fix-It, Flash Thompson Being A Jerk, Gen, Good Friend Ned Leeds, Hurt Peter Parker, Iron Dad, Iron Fam, Minor Betty Brant/Ned Leeds, Minor May Parker/Happy Hogan, Minor Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Has Anxiety, Peter Parker Has Issues, Peter Parker Has Nightmares, Peter Parker Has Panic Attacks, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Mess, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Spider-Man: Far From Home, Post-Spider-Man: Far From Home Mid-Credits Scene, Precious Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Protective May Parker (Spider-Man), Protective Michelle Jones, Sensory Overload, Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie), Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie) Spoilers, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Worried Ned Leeds, spider son
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2020-10-04 21:43:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 54,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20477942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bernie_ce0702/pseuds/Bernie_ce0702
Summary: “If you were here, now you’d probably say ‘previously on Peter screws the pooch’ again and you’d be right. I screwed up, big time. I never learn do I? You trusted me with your tech and I handed them over to a criminal who tried to destroy the whole of Europe. How could I be so stupid? I should’ve trusted myself more, I should’ve known that you left E.D.I.T.H to me for me, not for random strangers from so-called ‘multi-verses’. Now, everyone knows who I am, they think I’m a murderer who tried to destroy London and I’m probably a fugitive wanted by at least three different countries. I’m alone, scared and have nowhere to go. And there’s no one to blame for that but myself.”The video changed everything. Now, Peter left is exposed and vulnerable as a wanted fugitive. With nowhere left to go, Peter ends up in the place he'd never think he'd be in again with the person he'd never thought he would see again.





	1. Nowhere to Go

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this is my first time posting a fanfic to this platform. I have an outline for the whole story and I've written 10 chapters. I had the idea for this fic pretty much as soon as I'd watched FFH for the first time (I couldn't deal with that cliffhanger) but I wanted to make sure that I'd written a decent amount before I started posting.  
So, just to clear things up before I begin, the MCU timeline can be complicated so I've done the following:  
Winter 2015, Peter gets bitten, age 14  
Civil War: spring 2016, Peter age 14  
Homecoming: Autumn 2016, Peter age 15  
Infinity War: 2018, Peter age 16  
Endgame: October 2023, Peter age 16  
Far From Home: June 2024, Peter age 16  
Also, when it's italics, it's the characters' direct thoughts, rather than speech or just normal narration.

“Spider-Man’s real name is ... Peter Parker.”

“What the fu-“

Peter’s eyes widened as his own face stared back down at him from the billboard outside Madison Square Garden, taunting him. The image was undoubtedly being displayed across New York City, probably across America and possibly across the entire world. _No. No. No. No. This isn’t happening. _These were the words cycling around Peter’s head in that moment, the lenses in his suit widened, reflecting his own shock and disbelief at the situation. His hands were raised to his head, trying to hold the weight of the bombshell that was just thrown his way. Thankfully, his mask concealed the tears that were beginning to form in his own eyes. He couldn’t let anyone see him cry.

He couldn’t process the scene around him. It felt like he was detached the scene around him, like he wasn’t really there, like it wasn’t real. A thick fog was encompassing him, rendering him unable to make sense of his surroundings. The sounds were muffled, the images were blurred. Nothing made sense. Nothing felt real.

Suddenly, the shock that had placed a filter upon his senses was forcibly removed, allowing a flood of senses to hit him all at once. Fuck. This was real. Peter was suddenly blinded by the lights surrounding him, lights that were so strong that the filters in the mask lenses did little to effectively block it out. The sounds were so loud and numerous that he could not single out a particular one. They all were just clawing at him and attempting to rip him to shreds. His skin burned from the suit, it was too hot, too scratchy, too much like fire. Peter felt his breath increase in pace, his lungs grasping for air they couldn’t quite find. _What do I do? Everyone knows my name. Everyone knows my face. They think I’m a criminal. It’s not safe for me anymore. What do I do? _

“Peter.”

Somehow, through all the confusion, he was able to focus on one voice. It was a small one, albeit, one that Peter could recognise among the chaos that was consuming him. He turned on the lamppost he was balanced on and slowly opened his eyes to see her face, a face that was able to ground him slightly. While MJ’s eyes were round with concern and horror of what had just happened, her presence was a calming one and thankfully, Peter’s breaths were able to stabilise slightly. She was the one thing he was able to focus on in the sea of confusion, reminding him to breathe. When she saw that he had calmed down enough to focus, she uttered one word, telling him what to do.

“Run.”

Peter didn’t need to be told twice. With her word, he shot a web at the roof of a nearby building, swung to its wall, and scaled it until he was balancing on the roof and running across it. While swinging would probably be quicker, Peter knew that he needed to remain as undetectable as possible. As a suspected murderer being sighted swinging towards his home was probably not the best idea in the world. Running across the city’s rooftops was the safer option. Before he’d perfected his web formula, this was how Peter became accustomed to his powers. Doing the same now felt like he was coming full circle. He’d begun the life of his secret alter ego this way, and now the end of his life with a secret alter ego was ending this way too. Back then, Peter had felt a rush of freedom from his powers as he was able to just run through the city without expectation, without responsibility. Now, they felt like a curse, creating a target upon his back that anyone could use to bring him down.

He just had to reach the apartment. If he could reach the apartment, he could change out of his suit and change into normal clothes. That way, he would be less conspicuous and could potentially leave the city undetected by the feds.

Oh how wrong he was.

When he was in sight of his apartment building, Peter stopped in his tracks. Police cars were swarming the street his building was on, and crowds of civilians and reporters were quickly forming within the vicinity. They were all itching for a glimpse at the teenager who several hours previously had been just another high schooler. _Shit. Are May and Happy in there? Are they in danger? Have I done this to them? _

He couldn’t go back to his apartment, for obvious reasons. He couldn’t go to Ned or MJ’s, he wouldn’t implicate their families in this mess or implicate them any further. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if the police went after them. No, he couldn’t do that to them. He had nowhere to go. The one person who Peter knew could and would help him was dead. He had listened to his heartbeat slowly fade away, watched the light in his arc reactor fade into darkness. Even with the adrenaline pumping through his veins, the memory forced ice into his body, causing Peter to freeze for a moment.

_No. Now is not the time to wallow in your grief, you need to find some safety. Just find somewhere to hide for a few hours then use the cover of darkness to escape the city. You will still be in the suit, but hopefully you will be able to find some new clothes somewhere. _

Choosing not to waste another second, Peter turned on his heel and ran in the direction that he came from. He wasn’t thinking as he was leaping from building to building, allowing instinct and adrenaline to be his guide. He paid no attention to where he was, he just ran and leapt and swung when necessary. Sweat was dripping down his body, thirst was begging him for water, and exhaustion was creeping through his body. But he couldn’t stop. Not until he was at least temporarily safe.

Eventually, Peter came to a halt when he could no longer breathe due to the exhaustion. He landed on hard brick that was still warm from the sunlight. Blinded by his tears, Peter didn’t register where he’d run to, he just clutched onto the low wall of the ledge that he’d landed on, trying to regain control over his breath. He took long, deep breaths and eventually, he began to tremble less. Only then, Peter was able to take notice of surroundings, but a wave of recognition only caused his grief to come collapsing around him. He was looking out across the bay, towards Liberty and Ellis Islands. He’d come here before, eight years ago? Peter couldn’t keep up with dates since he’d returned from Titan. That time, he was watching the carnage he’d caused by his own mistakes, a ferry cut in half, emergency services surrounding the scene, his mentor shouting at him for his stupidity. All Peter wanted to do was speak to him, even though he knew that Tony would never hear his words.

“If you were here, now you’d probably say ‘previously on Peter screws the pooch’ again and you’d be right. I screwed up, big time. I never learn do I? You trusted me with your tech and I handed them over to a criminal who tried to destroy the whole of Europe. How could I be so stupid? I should’ve trusted myself more, I should’ve known that you left E.D.I.T.H to me for me, not for random strangers from so-called ‘multi-verses’. Now, everyone knows who I am, they think I’m a murderer who tried to destroy London and I’m probably a fugitive wanted by at least three different countries. I’m alone, scared and have nowhere to go. And there’s no one to blame for that but myself.”

Peter wallowed in his thoughts for a few moments before he continued his one sided conversation with a ghost.

“Why did you seek me out? Why did you want to help me, let alone give me the glasses? I’m just a stupid immature kid from Queens who’s a player in a game way out of his league. All that time spent with you in your penthouse, working in the lab or just hanging out and I didn’t learn a thing. I’m not a hero, I can’t fill your shoes, I can’t even recognise who’s my friend and who’s my enemy. God, I wish you were here, you’d know exactly what to do. All this time, I’ve been trying to figure out how to fix my own messes, but I don’t think this is one I can get myself out of. What do I do?”

Finally in a place where he didn’t have to run for the time being, Peter allowed himself to begin processing his emotions. A tear fell down Peter’s cheek; he was too preoccupied to hear footsteps coming up behind him.

“Now, I think you’re being a little harsh on yourself there don’t you think, Underoos?”


	2. Consumed by the Pain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, thank you for all the kudos/bookmarks and everything. I re-watched Endgame on DVD yesterday and let's just say it was very emotional...  
Anyway, here's chapter 2 as promised, I may have filed it with lots of angst. It's slightly shorter than the last but it is the shortest chapter of the ones I've written so far. It also took slightly longer to write chapter 11 than I originally expected so I couldn't post this chapter yesterday like I was originally hoping to.

Peter jumped out of his skin when he heard the voice, to the extent that he almost fell off the ledge he was standing on. He turned to where the voice was coming from, raising his arms in a defensive position, ready to defend himself from whoever was trying to talk to him. However, when he did so, he saw his mentor standing a few metres away from him, eyes filled with tears, cradling his right arm like he always used to, wearing the clothes that he’d always wore when they worked in the lab together. He was framed by the Manhattan skyline, the skyscrapers twinkling with the reflected light from the late afternoon sunlight.

However, Peter’s stance didn’t change at the sight of his old mentor. Instead, he began to back away from him, his breath quickening in pace again. “No. No. No. No. No. You’re not real. You’re just one of Mysterio’s illusions trying to manipulate me again. But this time it’s not going to work. This time, this time, I’m onto you. That shit won’t work on me anymore. No, you can’t get inside my head anymore. You can’t –“

“Peter, Peter,” Tony said, interrupting the teenager, “I’m real.”

“No, NO! You’re not real. You’re dead. I watched you die. I listened to your heartbeat fade away. I went to your funeral with May. You’re not real. You’re not real.” Peter yelled out through his tears.

“When we first met you webbed me to your bedroom door when I threatened to tell May about your Spider-ling activities. When I dropped you off at your apartment after I brought you back from Germany, you thought I was giving you a hug and you returned it but I said ‘That’s not a hug, I’m just grabbing the door for you.’ When we were on the spaceship, you got your idea on how to get rid of Squidward from the movie ‘Aliens’. I promise you Underoos, I’m one hundred per cent real. I’m not an illusion. I’m not a hallucination. I am Tony Stark. Your mentor and the closest thing you’ve had to a father since your Uncle Ben died, and all I want to do is try and help you.”

Tony was crying now, Peter could see. He was crying at the sight of Peter in such pain, but Peter couldn’t bring himself to feel guilty. As he looked at Tony, he could see the sun reflect off a piece of red metal where his right hand used to be, and a series of burns running up the side of his neck and up onto the side of his face. They had faded significantly from what they were after the snap, but they were still extensive. Mysterio couldn’t have created this, wouldn’t have created this, he wouldn’t have known how.

_You’re real. _

Peter’s panicked breaths were replaced with ones that shook through his anger. The third man who Peter had seen as a father figure in his sixteen years was standing right in front of him. Alive. After eight months of Peter believing him to be dead. For months, a part of Peter was imagining, hoping for a moment where he would get to see his mentor again. He imagined the relief or happiness or joy he would experience when he was reunited with Tony. But now, now that the moment was actually happening, Peter couldn’t feel any relief or happiness or joy at Tony being alive. All he felt was rage, blinding rage.

“You’re telling me that you’ve been alive all this time and you didn’t tell me?” Peter asked, his voice trembling with fury.

“Peter, I-“

“No,” Peter cut across him, “It’s my turn to talk. You were dead. I had to sit there next to you as I was forced to listen to your heartbeat fade away, my Spidey-sense tearing me apart as I watched you die while there was nothing I could do to save you. I went through hell in the last eight months, eight months, and where were you?”

Peter took a steadying breath before glaring at Tony, who was silently pleading for him to stop. But Peter didn’t listen; he continued to tell Tony what he felt like his mentor needed to hear.

“Where were you when I cried myself to sleep for months and then woke up screaming every night from a nightmare where I had to relive you dying over and over again? Where were you when Nick Fury wouldn’t leave me alone because he wanted me to help with something that wasn’t even real? Where were you when Mysterio was manipulating the whole world and was trying to destroy an entire city? You had plenty of opportunities to contact me and you didn’t. You weren’t there when I needed you, and I had to learn to pick up the pieces myself. I needed you and you weren’t there. You weren’t there when you should’ve been.”

Hot tears were slowly beginning to roll down Peter’s cheeks. But Peter didn’t care; he just needed to say everything that had been torturing his mind all day.

“And now the entire world thinks I’m a psychopathic murderer and they know who I am and they’re going to come after May and MJ and Ned and everyone else I care about. Are you going to pick up the pieces? Well this time you can’t, the damage has been done already, you’re too late. It’s too late.”

With that, Peter couldn’t talk anymore; he just dissolved into a fit of tears where everything that he’d been feeling for the last eight months poured out of him like a waterfall. All the anxiety, all the nightmares, all the grief, all the pain released as one unstoppable force. He just couldn’t hold it in any longer, he had to let it out. The weight of his emotion caused his legs to buckle and he collapsed. He began to fall to the ground. But Tony caught him before he could, helping him into a kneeling position. Despite Peter’s anger, he gripped on to Tony, allowing himself to be consumed by his emotions for once rather than just hiding them away.

“I just- I just,” Peter stammered between sobs, “I just don’t know what to do. It’s all falling apart.”

“Shhhh, it’s okay, it’s all going to be okay.” Tony whispered into Peter’s hair.

Tony just held onto Peter, letting him cry and gently rubbing his back. He too was crying, feeling his heart break under the guilt of what he had inadvertently allowed his kid to be put through since the Battle of Earth. He knew that if he had the means or the ability, Peter wouldn’t have had to go through any of that alone but he still felt unimaginable guilt anyway. This was his kid, his Peter, who he had grown to love like his own and whose death had haunted him in the five years between the Snap and the Time Heist. Here he was, broken and vulnerable in his arms and he wasn’t there when he needed him most. He couldn’t process the guilt; he just closed his eyes and pressed his lips to the top of Peter’s head; finally being there for his kid who had needed him for so long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So again I'd like to thank my betas LadyofWinter3601 and luna_volchitsa for correcting my terrible typing skills. I've already started chapter 12 so hopefully chapter 3 will be posted by the end of the week as I'm hoping Chapter 12 won't take as long for me to write.


	3. The Safest Place to Be

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this chapter got delayed. But thank you so much for all the kudos, I can't believe I'm on 100 hits. Anyway here's chapter 3, where a few more characters appear...

Neither of them knew how long they stayed like that, holding onto each other for support. But eventually, Peter’s breaths began to slow, and his tears began to subside. Tony understood that it wasn’t safe for either of them to be in the city, what with him supposed to be dead and Peter now an exposed fugitive. They needed to get out of there. Fast.

Slowly, Tony opened his eyes and was surprised to see that it was now dark; the scene now being lit by the glow of New York City’s many buildings. Had they really been there that long?

“Peter,” he whispered tentatively, “C’mon, we need to get out of here, do you think you can walk?” When the teenager slowly nodded against Tony’s jacket, Tony slowly helped a still shaking Peter to his feet. Peter kept his swollen eyes locked firmly on the ground, either unable or not willing to look at Tony. Tony could understand that, after all the kid had been through he didn’t blame him for his anger.

“Where are we going to go?” Peter mumbled.

“Lake house, kid. It’s the securest place that either of us can be in right now; the only people who know where it is are cleared by Pepper personally. No one can hurt you there.”

“No, I don’t want to go there.” Peter said, the panic beginning to rise up in his voice again.

Tony looked at Peter, confused, “Why not, kid? It really is the safest place for you to be right now.”

“Because,” Peter hesitated before giving his answer, “Because last time I was there, it was your funeral.”

Tony sighed, realising the negative associations that Peter has with his house. He associated the house with him being dead and the pain his death had created. The realisation caused another wave of guilt; he was coming to understand the pain that Peter was in. And despite knowing that he couldn’t have done anything to stop what had happened, he couldn’t help but feel that he was responsible for causing Peter’s pain.

“Kid, I promise you, I am not going anywhere anytime soon. I’m alive and if six of the most powerful stones in the universe can’t kill me then it’s looking like there isn’t anything else that will kill me anytime soon.” He said, trying to make Peter smile. When a small smile began to form on Peter’s lips, Tony felt that it was safe to continue. “C’mon kid, let’s go. I have some clothes and food in the car.”

With that, the older man put his arm around the kid and led him away from the ledge and towards his own car, which was surprising inconspicuous when compared with his usual taste in cars. He opened the door, grabbed and threw a bundle of clothes to Peter. “Put these on over the suit kid, you can’t exactly leave the city unnoticed with red and black spandex visible.”

Peter pulled the sweatshirt and tracksuit bottoms on over his suit and climbed into the car without saying a word. He was still trying to process the events of the entire afternoon and talking to anyone was the last thing he wanted to do, especially Tony. Instead, he just rested his head against the window and watched New York morph into countryside as they made their way up north. It was too dark to see too far so instead Peter watched as dark shadows passed his view in a blur. As he did so, he accepted the food that Tony had brought for him although it felt like lead in his stomach but he forced himself to eat it anyway.

Physically, he was exhausted after spending hours running across New York and his body was calling for sleep. However, his mind felt like it had taken three shots of espresso so it couldn’t bring itself to fall asleep. Tony was alive, he had been framed for murder; everyone knew his identity. This was too much for him to process so his brain was going into overdrive trying to deal with everything. Tony didn’t try and talk to him during the ride, something which Peter was thankful for, he needed to attempt to process the day’s events in peace. Well, in as much peace as was possible for someone with superhuman senses.

Eventually, they pulled up in front of the lake house. When he saw the lake, Peter’s mind immediately found its way to the memory of him standing on the jetty watching the bouquet carrying the original arc reactor float across its surface, the pain of the memory coming with it.

“Pete?” Tony asked tentatively, pulling Peter out of the memory, “Let’s go inside, everyone’s waiting.” He opened the door for Peter and placed a hand on his back to guide him into the house. Once they were inside, Peter was surprised that Pepper, Happy, May and MJ were all waiting for them to arrive. The minute she saw him, May opened his arms to him and Peter ran into them, not needing to be asked twice.

“You got out, you’re safe.” Peter whispered into her shoulder.

“I’m safe, we left with all your spider-tech as soon as we saw the newscast and we found MJ en route. She told us that you ran so when we got here, Tony went straight out to find you, saying he knew where you’d be.” She said, running a hand through his hair.

“I’m sorry, I-“ He began before May cut him off.

“Don’t apologise, you have nothing to be sorry for.”

When they pulled away from the hug, May’s eyes were red and swollen, a sign of her hours of worrying. Peter felt a familiar wave of guilt as he was reminded of all he’d put her through since becoming Spider-Man. Pushing those feelings aside, he turned to look at MJ, who was looking at him in a way that made Peter feel like she was reading him.

“If I had my sketchbook right now, you would be the perfect person in crisis to draw.”

“I ran. I ran, just like you told me to.”

“I know Parker, and it’s going to be okay.”

Peter didn’t reply to her, he just took her hand a squeezed it, hoping that all he wanted to say was communicated in that action. She squeezed his hand in return, and in doing so she communicated everything that she couldn’t put into words.

“Peter,” Pepper cut in, breaking the moment between him and MJ, “I know you’re tired and today has been a lot to take in, but there are things that we can’t wait to discuss.”

Peter nodded, and sat down on the sofa, not letting go of MJ’s hand. May and Happy sat on the other end of the sofa, while Pepper sat on the chair, Tony sitting beside her on the arm of the chair. Then an awkward silence began, as no one quite knew how to start the discussion.

“Can someone actually say something, so everyone can stop looking at me like they’re holding an intervention?” Peter snapped, losing his patience with all of them.

“Well,” Pepper began, “Obviously there’s the situation involving Beck and you being blamed for the attack on London, and then there’s the situation involving your identity being revealed. Both situations have no clear solution and it may take awhile before one presents itself. It’s still summer, so for the time-being we’ve all decided that it’s best for you to stay here for the summer with us and Morgan. Happy is going to take May and MJ back to Queens as them leaving for an extended period of time would look suspicious to the Feds.”

Pepper paused for Peter to respond but when he didn’t respond, Tony continued, “Now, releasing a statement would hopefully stop the speculation from growing surrounding your identity. Your identity would be confirmed but-“

“No,” May cut across him, “We can’t confirm his identity, he’s a sixteen year old kid. How is he supposed to live his life like a normal teenager?”

“But his identity has already been revealed by Beck and the DailyBugle.net, who we are going to sue for releasing an image of a minor without permission. His life isn’t going to be the same, not after this.” Pepper, said with a slight tone of irritation in her voice, “It’s better to stop the speculation and deny any accusations being made about his actions in London, which I will be able to support as CEO of Stark Industries and as Tony Stark’s perceived widow.”

May was also getting irritated, “But denying it straight away would make it seem that he is guilty. Waiting will allow the speculation to die down and then we’ll be able to act once public opinion isn’t so negative. Also, waiting will give us a chance for Peter to adapt to his new situation and find a way to continue living his life.”

Peter stopped listening. It was too much. The overlapping voices of the adults in the room, arguing over what they thought was best for him was ironically not in his best interests; it was causing his senses to overload again. _You’re okay, just breathe. Breathe._ He reached out for MJ’s hand, who began stroking the back of his hand with her thumb in a comforting motion, realising what was beginning to happen.

The noises became louder to Peter. Each word someone said created a violent explosion inside his head. So he scrunched up his face trying to block them out and leaned over to rest his head on MJ’s shoulder. None of the adults in the room had noticed Peter’s change in behaviour, they just continued arguing, causing the sounds to only get louder and put Peter in more pain.

“Make it stop. Make it stop.” Peter pleaded, but only MJ heard him. Her heart broke over seeing Peter in so much agony. She had to do something to help.

“Stop.” She said in a soft but commanding voice, “Can’t you see you’re hurting him?”

Tony, Pepper, May and Happy all turned to look at her and Peter, all of them breathing in sharply when they saw what their arguing had done to Peter.

MJ took their silence as an invitation to continue, “Look, I know you all love and care about Peter, but arguing about how to handle the situation isn’t helping right now.” She then turned so that she was facing Peter, “It would be better to wait until morning, give Peter chance to clear his head then allow him to make the decision.”

The adults didn’t reply, stunned into silence by MJ’s words. “He needs to get out of here.” She said.

May stood up, “I think that’s a good idea MJ,” She said, “I think it best that Peter goes to bed.”

With that, Pepper stood and showed MJ and Peter to a room on the first floor opposite hers and Tony’s room. May and Happy retreated to their room in her absence, leaving Tony alone in the living room. He sighed and rubbed his chin with his hand, trying to think of a way to help Peter. When his wife returned, all he did was look at her with a look of desperation in his eyes; a single sentence escaped his mouth.

“What are we gonna do Pepper?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank my betas, LadyofWinter3601 and luna_volchitsa, again for correcting my spelling mistakes. Hopefully it won't be too long before chapter 4 is ready but thank you all again for all the kudos and everything!!!


	4. The Search for Forgiveness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the continued support. I'd like to especially thank my betas for their support when I've been writing this and giving me the much needed proof reads. Sorry this took so long, but here's chapter 4 as promised, which comes with a few explanations...

Tony woke up just as the sunlight was breaking through his curtains. He was surprised he’d slept at all, considering the day he’d had yesterday. Peter hadn’t forgiven him for his lie. Tony hadn’t forgiven himself for not doing so, even though he knew that he didn’t have the ability to contact him for the entirety of those eight months. His heart ached over the pain that his kid was in and his apparent powerlessness to do anything about it. The only way to make it up to Peter was be there for him now.

He sighed, and got out of bed, figuring that he would potentially be able to get a few hours of work done before anyone stirred. Without waking Pepper, who was still asleep on the other side of the bed, he attached the metal arm he had designed onto his shoulder and stretched the fingers out. He was still getting used to the feel of the arm, as he’d only been wearing it for a couple of weeks. Sincethe army of nurses and doctors S.H.I.E.L.D had provided deemed his burns to be healed enough for him to be able to wear his arm without irritating them, he’d been wearing it for increasing periods of time. He pulled on an old MIT sweatshirt before going downstairs to brew some coffee.

After making his coffee, he went outside and stood on the patio, breathing in the fresh dawn air. God, moving here with Pepper had been the best decision he had ever made. It was so peaceful compared to the city; it was the perfect place for them to heal after the snap and the perfect place to raise Morgan. The forest could be used for building more tree houses, and the lake could be used for fishing and sailing. At least, they could when Tony had recovered enough and when he had found a way to make his arm more waterproof.

Tony loved the lake. He loved the way it froze over in the winter and how the ice created swirls and patterns that changed every winter. He loved the way that mist formed on it in the early morning, sometimes so thick that the water surface became invisible and it looked like you could easily walk across the lake to the other side. He love the way sunlight reflects off it in. No matter what time of day it was, the lake always shimmered like a jewel, creating an aura of clam. After Afghanistan, it took Tony months to be able to simply put his head under a running shower. Every time he did so he experienced flashback to his head being shoved under the water by the Ten Rings. Now, the water gave Tony a peace and serenity that ten years ago he would have laughed at, believing it to not exist.

He was about to turn away from the lake and head towards the garage when he noticed Peter sitting on the jetty, staring out across the lake. How long had he been there? Did he even go to sleep? Of course he didn’t go to sleep; this was Peter he was thinking about. Peter who was more similar to himself than Tony could have ever imagined. Because of this, Tony knew that the trauma Peter had endured played on his mind so much that insomnia crept in. He knew because he experiences this regularly.

He wanted to go over there and talk to him. He wanted to tell him everything was going to be okay and that they were going to fix this mess. But something inside Tony stopped him from going over there. What was it? Guilt? Fear? Stubbornness? Whatever it was, it pulled Tony back from going over there like a tether. So instead he just stood there, watching Peter, slowly sipping his coffee.

“He still cares about you,” a voice said from behind him, Tony turned around and saw May standing behind him, “He’s angry but he’ll come around eventually.”

“Are you sure?” Tony replied, “You didn’t see him on Governors Island, he was so mad, so broken. I don’t know if he’ll ever forgive me.”

“I wouldn’t blame him after what he’s been through these past months.” She said, giving him a look which made Tony remember the guilt for a second, “But Peter doesn’t hold grudges for long; he’s too good for that.”

“He is isn’t he?” He smiled.

“Yeah, so you should go talk to him. The only way you’re going to regain his trust is by being there for him now. Besides, I think you’re the only person who could possibly understand what he’s going through right now. He needs you now, so be there for him.”

May was right, Tony knew it. He had to swallow whatever emotion he was feeling and be there for Peter. So he sighed then walked towards the jetty. Tony knew Peter could hear him coming with his enhanced senses, but Peter made no acknowledgement of his presence, he instead fixed his gaze at the middle of the lake. He continued to ignore Tony when he sat down next to him.

“This is a far cry from city life, but you get used to it.” Tony remarked. No answer.

“We have everything that we had in the city; it’s just in a more rustic setting.” Still no answer.

“Well, F.R.I.D.A.Y has been disabled, so I there’s no link to the outside world, no phones or internet or anything like that for security reasons. But other than that, everything’s here.” Still no answer.

“C’mon Pete, you gotta give me something here. I want to be there for you, but how can I if you don’t talk to me?”

An awkward silence ensued, with Tony being unable to find anymore words to say while Peter was still angry. Tony just stared at his feet as the tips of them were skimming the surface of the lake, creating ripples that spread out and intercepted the similar ripples that Peter was creating with his own feet.

Eventually, it was Peter who broke the silence. His voice was flat, void of any and all emotion. He still couldn’t look at Tony. “I’ve been here once before, and I was standing on this jetty with May as we watched that bouquet carry your arc reactor out into the middle of this lake.” 

Tony didn’t know what to say, he just felt like whatever he said he would cause a repeat of Peter’s outburst on Governor’s Island, which neither of them wanted. The awkward silence started again.

Finally, Peter turned to look at Tony, his eyes red and swollen. “Why didn’t you contact me?” He whispered, “Why didn’t you let me know you were alive?”

Peter looked at Tony in a way that demanded an answer from him. Tony sighed, he knew this would come up eventually, he just hoped that it wasn’t today. But, he realised in this moment that they probably couldn’t move forward until Peter understood why he had to go through what he did over the last eight months.

“Well, after I snapped, I did die briefly. But I was taken to a S.H.I.E.L.D facility where I was revived using this serum that they’ve apparently used in the past on high level agents, or at least something similar to that. Then I was placed in a medically induced coma while they tried to reduce the damage from the radiation. Outside of essential S.H.I.E.L.D personnel, only Rhodey, Bruce, Pepper and Morgan knew that I was alive. I woke up about three months ago with burns on my entire right side, a missing arm and in a whole lot of pain. It took another month of intense physiotherapy to get me weaned off the strong pain meds and walking again. Only then was I allowed to return to the lake house which was two months ago.”

“I wanted to contact you. I wanted to contact you from the moment I was coherent enough to think straight. But Fury wouldn’t let me. Apparently, saving the universe puts a target on your back. You would’ve thought that the universe’s hero would have been able to live out the rest of their life in peace but no, apparently it doesn’t work that way. I kept begging Fury to let me contact you but he wouldn’t budge. He thought I would endanger you if I contacted you. I haven’t been able to contact you myself, as I said we’re technologically isolated from the world. And Pepper doesn’t want me risking my life again so she wouldn’t contact you for me. And I’ve not been allowed to leave, both for security and health reasons so I’ve been stuck here. I’m not complaining, it’s peaceful and Pepper and Morgan are everything to me. But I haven’t had you to help me with my projects or give me more grey hairs with your spider activity. I’ve missed you, Pete, more than you will ever know.”

Silence crept in again, although this time it wasn’t as awkward. It felt similar to the silences that they sat in while in the lab all those years ago. It was a silence that formed when one of them needed time to process or understand something. Right now, Peter was trying to process what Tony had told him.

“Why now?” Peter said eventually, emotion beginning to return to his voice. “If Fury wouldn’t let you contact me, why did you come to New York to find me?”

“Well,” Tony continued, “When the video was released, Happy brought May here with all of your Spidey gear. I think he wanted to get your aunt away from the Feds and all of your tech out of the Feds hands. This was the first place where Happy thought to bring her and I think they found that girlfriend of yours en route. They were expecting just to find Pepper and Morgan, Happy didn’t know I was alive, every time he saw Morgan I was either in the facility or Pepper brought Morgan to him. He wasn’t allowed to become collateral by finding this out either. It was quite a shock to him, I think he almost punched me but Morgan was still up so he restrained himself for her sake. Given that your girlfriend knows then I assume it’s only a matter of time before that friend of yours finds out as well.”

“We had no idea of what had happened in Europe, only that Fury had taken the glasses to give to you, presumably to strengthen the rouse that I was dead. I always planned on giving them to you, but I just hoped to give them to you in person. When they had filled us in on what had happened first in Europe and today, I couldn’t stay away anymore. MJ had said that you had run after the video was released, and I had figured out that you might have gone to Governors Island so I insisted on going to find you. Everyone tried to stop me but you were in danger, and nothing was going to stop me from finding you and helping you. So, here we are, both alive and in a relatively safe place for the first time in six years.”

Peter had seemed to ease up slightly. His body language had relaxed from its stiff position it was previously in and some of the anger had faded from his eyes. Sure his anger hadn’t completely faded, Tony hadn’t expected it to, but it was a start.

Peter looked back down at his feet, “I don’t know what to do.” He whispered, “I’ve been up all night thinking but I just feel like whatever decision I make, it will turn out to be the wrong one.”

Tony sighed, and looked at the boy holding the whole weight of the world on his shoulders and crumbling under the pressure. “Peter, look at me,” he said, Peter rose his head again to look at Tony, “There are no wrong decisions here, the right decision is the one that you feel is best for you. Not what’s best for me, not what’s best for May or Happy or MJ or anyone else, what is best for you is all that matters. No matter what decision you make, you have a whole team of people who love and care about you and we will always be there for you no matter what.”

Peter looked at him for a moment, and then looked out towards the lake. “I think I want to lay low for a while. I want to find a way to clear my name and stop Mysterio. He’s out there Tony, I know it. I think he faked his death on the bridge. He’s planning something, and I need to find a way to stop him.”


	5. Help Me Understand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the continued support for this fic. Sorry it's taken so long for the next post but it's here now so enjoy!!!

A few hours later, after they’d all been fed and had gotten dressed, Peter was standing outside the lake house beside Happy’s black Audi. It had been decided that MJ and May had to return to New York City as, apparently, Peter Parker’s guardian and girlfriend both leaving the city for an extended period of time at the same time as Peter being declared a fugitive looked suspicious. Peter didn’t want either of them to leave, as it meant he was going to be left alone with Mr Stark, Pepper and Morgan. After the morning’s conversation, he felt like he understood the situation a lot more but Peter still felt awkward around him, like he wasn’t able to completely drop his guard around him just yet. Being forced to spend all his time here with no form of communication to the outside world wasn’t Peter’s ideal scenario for the situation he was in.

He walked over to MJ and took her hands, “So...” he said slowly.

“So...” She replied awkwardly.

“I guess this means goodbye.” Peter continued.

“’Never say goodbye, because goodbye means going away, and going away means forgetting.’” She quoted, her eyes filling with tears.

“What great work of literature was that from?”

“Peter Pan.” She laughed, a tear falling down her cheek.

Peter laughed, and then leaned in to kiss her, suddenly unconscious of all the other adults around them. When he pulled away, he whispered, “Stay safe, and give those Feds hell.”

“Giving adults in authority hell is what I do best.” She replied, a smirk forming on her lips.

Turning to Tony, who had an eyebrow raised and a smirk on his lips, she said, “I’ll be back up here next week, and in the meantime try not to die, whether that be a real death or a fake death, because I will come after you if you try and pull something like that again.”

Tony’s eyebrow dropped and his smirk fell, and he just stared at MJ utterly speechless. Peter suppressed a laugh, it took a lot for Tony to be silenced, and MJ managed to silence him with one sentence.

She turned and climbed into the car, while Peter turned to May, who’d just walked out of the lake house. She opened her arms and Peter almost ran into them. She stroked the back of his head, which communicated so much more than words could say.

When they pulled out of the hug, Peter asked, “You’ll be okay right?”

“Of course I will, what are a few people from the authorities going to do to me? Besides, I’ve got Happy; he’s not head of security at Stark Industries for nothing you know.”

Peter rolled his eyes, “Well if I hear that he’s not been doing his job properly, he’ll have me to answer to.”

May laughed, “I love you so much Peter.”

“I love you too.” Peter smiled as he watched her climb into the passengers’ side of the car.

He tried not to cry as he watched the car slowly pull away from him. When the car was out of sight, he looked down at his feet, attempting to blink away any tears undetected.

Tony seemed to read his mind, however, as he walked up to Peter and started to talk to him.

“It’s for the best; we can’t have either of them becoming persons of interests in regards to your whereabouts.”

“I know,” Peter whispered in response, “I just wish that I could talk to them while I’m here.”

“We’ll try and find a way for you to contact them. Besides, you’ll see them soon enough, that girlfriend of yours is coming back up here next week. I think she’s coming for the sole purpose of terrifying me but she’ll make time to talk to you.”

Peter smiled, “Don’t mind her, she just finds pleasure in intimidating adults.”

Tony rolled his eyes, “Of course she does. Now let’s go find Morgan, you’re on babysitting duties today as Pepper’s taking me to an appointment with the physiotherapist at the S.H.I.E.L.D facility and Morgan is dying to show you her tree house, and believe me, the puppy dog eyes she’ll use on you will be impossible to say no to.”

As predicted, Morgan delighted in spending time with Peter, and did not hesitate to drag Peter off to her tree house once Tony and Pepper left, insisting that Peter show her his spider powers to get into the house. The house wasn’t built for a teenager, so Peter had to crouch to get through the door. He gaped at what was inside. He had never seen so much pink in his life. Pink walls, pinks floors, pink furniture, it even had pink fairy lights circling the walls.

“You don’t like it Petey?” Morgan asked, giving Peter puppy dog eyes.

“No, no.” Peter quickly replied, not wanting Morgan to cry, “It’s wonderful, I just don’t think I’ve ever seen so much pink in my life.”

Morgan grinned, “When Daddy built it for me, he said that I could decorate it any way I want and I wanted pink.”

She beckoned for Peter to sit on the pink sofa and then she handed Peter a small tea cup which she filled with water out of a tea pot. Then she poured herself a cup then sat on the sofa next to Peter.

“Will you show me more of your spider powers sometime? Please?” She asked him, giving him the puppy dog eyes again.

“Sure, but not right now, though. My web shooters are back in my room and I’m having too much fun in this tree house to go and get them.” Peter replied, those puppy dog eyes were impossible to say no to. 

“I’m so happy I get to see your spidey powers now you’re here. Daddy always tells me stories about you and your spidey powers when he puts me to bed.” She said casually, although it caused Peter to stiffen and pause for a moment.

“He does?” Peter asked, trying to keep his breath steady. _Please don’t cry in front of a five year old._

“Yeah.” Morgan replied, not noticing Peter’s shift in body language or voice, “At first I think it made him sad because he didn’t think he’d get to see you again, but then everyone came back. And after that, when he told stories about you he wasn’t as sad anymore. I think he missed you.”

“He missed me?” Peter whispered, his eyes beginning to tear up. _This plan of not crying really isn’t working very well_.

“Yeah,” she said, still oblivious to the fact that was Peter almost crying as she was too preoccupied by setting up her tea set, “Upstairs in the house there was a room that I was never allowed to go in, but now you’re allowed to go in because that’s your room. And there was a day When Auntie Nat and Uncle Steve and Uncle Scott came asking him to help them with time travel and he said no. But then that night, I saw him doing the dishes and he picked up this photo of you two he had on the shelf and he looked sad when he looked at it. Then he took the photo and began working on the time-travel thingy. Oh Petey, don’t be sad.”

Peter was crying fully now, and Morgan had noticed, climbing onto his knee to try and comfort him. Peter let her, trying to process what she had let slip. She had said it so casually but to Peter, this was anything but casual. Tony missed him, made a room here for him, hoped for him to return. He didn’t understand. Did he really care about Peter that much?

When Peter began to feel better, he said, “Thanks Morgan, you give great hugs. Now why don’t you introduce me to all your toys until your parents are back and dinner’s ready.”

They spent the remainder of the afternoon having a tea party with Morgan’s toys. She delighted in introducing all of her toys to him and serving ‘high tea’ to Peter using her pink tea set. While playing with Morgan was a welcome distraction for him, what Morgan had said about Tony was always in the corner of his mind, playing with his thoughts. There were times where Peter caught her staring at him, like she could see that there was still something he was upset about but she couldn’t quite understand what it was. That made two of them. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t understand what he had found out.

When Tony and Pepper returned, Peter did his best to avoid them. When they were sat around the table, eating dinner, Peter could barely look at either of them. He could sense the two of them exchanging concerned glances whilst Morgan babbled away but he couldn’t bring himself to join in or look up from his plate.

Once they’d finished, Pepper stood up and started gathering the dishes ready to wash them.

“I’ll do the dishes Pepper.” Peter replied, standing up as well.

“No Peter, you don’t have to. You are the guest in this house after all.”

“No, really I insist,” Peter continued, “You’ve already been so good to me in letting me stay here. Doing the dishes is the least I could do.”

“Well, if you’re sure, that’s very considerate of you Peter.”

In truth, Peter offered to do the dishes to try and avoid Tony. He wasn’t quite ready to talk to him yet, he still needed time. He knew he’d probably have to talk to Tony eventually, just not tonight.

As he was doing the dishes, a photo on the shelf caught his eye. When he picked it up, he gasped. He remembered taking this photo. It was when Tony found out about no one at school believing that he had a Stark Internship. Tony insisted on taking it so everyone would believe him. First, they had taken some official ones that Tony had called boring and for old people. But after that was done they started messing around, doing increasingly ridiculous poses, such as the pose that they were doing in the photo. He never knew that Tony had framed it and kept it after all these years.

He had to find Tony. He couldn’t take another minute without talking to Tony about what Morgan had told him. So, he went outside to look for Tony once he’d hastily finished the dishes, bringing the photo with him. He could see a light in the garage window so he ran along to path and went inside. Sure enough, Tony was in there, looking at the blueprints of the suit that Peter had made on the plane.

“Hey Pete,” He said, not looking up from the blueprints, “I was just looking at your new suit, and I must say, I couldn’t have done better myself.”

Instead of replying, Peter just put the photo in front of Tony, who, for a second, turned ghostly pale at the sight at the photo. As quickly as it had disappeared, however, the colour returned to his face and he looked at Peter.

“I spoke to Morgan earlier,” Peter whispered, “and she said that you were really sad after Titan, and how you made me a room even though I was dead, and how I was partially behind the reason why you invented time travel. And I wasn’t going to say anything but I couldn’t because I can’t get it to make sense in my head and before, whenever I needed to understand something, I went to you for help. So now, I’m asking you to help me understand this.”

Tony didn’t answer, unable to find the words to respond to him, so instead he just sat there, staring at Peter over his glasses, mouth slightly agape.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked,” Peter blurted out, backing away from Tony, “I shouldn’t have asked, it’s too personal and I’m sorry. I’ll just go to my room.” 

“No.” Tony was eventually able to find his voice. It came out as only a whisper, but nevertheless it caused Peter to pause in his tracks.

“Stay, you deserve to know everything.” He said, louder this time, “Come sit with me. I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”

Peter sat down on the stool next to Tony, looking down at his knees. Tony removed his glasses and rubbed his face.

“God, I don’t even know how to begin.”

“Try from the beginning.”

Tony gave out a half laugh at Peter’s comment and began to speak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I'd like to thank my betas for helping with my terrible grammar skills. 
> 
> So I'm starting university tomorrow so I don't know how often I'll get to post. I've written up to chapter 16, and have done an edit of everything I've written. I'll try and post as often as possible so please bear with me because I've worked so much on this fic and I'm really excited to share this story with the world.
> 
> Also, I'm overjoyed about Spider-Man coming back to the MCU, I genuinely cried when I saw the news. He's back where he belongs!!!


	6. Come Here Kid, Hold Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I'm back!!! Thank you for all the continued support with the kudos. So here's a quick reminder on my timeline: Infinity War takes place about a year and a half after Homecoming (Homecoming = Autumn 2016, Infinity War = Spring 2018). Anyway, here's chapter 6, hope you enjoy!!!

**1 year pre snap**

“You want to make an Iron Man suit from nanoparticles?” Peter asked his eyes wide and voice full of excitement.

“Yup.” Tony replied, popping the ‘p’.

“And you want me to help you?” Peter asked, barely able to contain excitement.

“Wouldn’t be telling you about it if I didn’t want your help kiddo.” Tony said, smirking over Peter’s excitement.

“I think this has got to be one of the greatest days of my life.” Peter said.

Tony laughed at the kid’s reaction to his plans for his new suit. His enthusiasm really was infectious. It was a few months after the whole homecoming incident and Tony had been working with Peter more closely ever since it happened. The whole debacle made Tony realise that the kid needed him to be a proper mentor and he was more than willing to step up to the plate. Well, that and shortly afterwards, May had discovered Peter’s secret identity and insisted that Tony kept a closer eye on him. So, twice a week, Peter would come over and they would work on various projects together. Originally, it had only been Spider-Man related project that they worked on but as time went on, Tony began trusting him with work for the other Avengers and Stark Industries. And now he was willing to let Peter help him work on something for Iron Man.

When they worked, they fell into a rhythm where they were so in sync with one another that Tony didn’t need to tell Peter what he wanted him to do. In fact, they both became so engrossed in work that they didn’t realise the time until Peter’s stomach started growling.

“C’mon Underoos, let’s get you something to eat.” Tony said, putting a hand on Peter’s back and escorting him to the kitchen.

“Mr. Stark you really don’t have to. I’m-” Peter started before Tony cut him off.

“Yes I do, your spider metabolism means that you need to eat. So let’s order some pizza then watch a movie.”

“Can we watch that really old movie with the time travel and the DeLorean?” Peter asked.

Tony rolled his eyes, “Kid, you do realise that I was fifteen when that ‘really old movie’ was released?”

“Yes I realise that, I called it really old for a reason.” Peter replied without thinking about his response. When he realised what he had said, his eyes widened in shock and his eyes covered his mouth. Tony tried not to laugh at Peter’s cheek so instead chose to act like he was highly offended, just to make the kid sweat a little.

“Mr. Stark, I am so so sorry, I did not mean to call you really old.” Peter blurted out.

“Just go put the movie on, I’ll sort out the food.” He laughed as Peter turned and ran towards the sofa. As he watched him run, he felt a warm feeling growing inside his chest, a feeling he’d never felt before.

“You are such a dad.” He heard Pepper say from behind him, he turned and saw her smirking at him.

“I am not.” Tony retorted.

“You so are, that kid has you wrapped around his little finger whether you like it or not.”

“I am not wrapped around his little finger. And besides, I am not a dad; I would be a horrible father. I had Howard as a father, that doesn’t put me in a good fatherly position.”

“If you say so.” She smirked as she walked towards the office. Tony knew she was partially joking but something about her words stuck with him. Was he becoming a father figure to Peter?

Tony shook the thought from his head and went to join Peter in front of the TV.

* * *

**The snap**

Tony watched with horror as his companions started to turn to dust. The bug lady. The strange purple dude. The Kevin Bacon fanboy. The wizard.

He said it was the only way, but right now the whole universe was coming crashing down around Tony. Thanos had won.

“Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good.” Peter stumbled towards him, looking down at his hands that were beginning to turn to dust.

_No_. _No, not Peter too_. _Please, no. Not Peter too._

“You’re okay.” Tony said, trying to remain calm but really, he wanted to scream. 

“I don’t want to go, I don’t want to go.” Peter begged, falling into Tony’s arms, looking for someone to save him. For Tony to save him. But what could Tony do? He had failed to save Peter and the universe from this fate. He was powerless and all he could do now was watch the inevitable and hold the closest thing he would ever have to a son have his body torn apart, cell by cell.

“I’m sorry.” Peter whispered, before his gaze became like glass and he continued to be decimated until all that was left was a pile of dust, floating in the wind.

Tony stared at his own hands; waiting for his own decimation to begin. But it never came. Well, it never came in the same way as it had for Peter.

Peter had died and it was all on him.

Everyone around him had died. Tony had been forced to watch. And then he didn’t die himself. Just like the vision that Wanda had put in his head three years ago.

* * *

**22 days post snap**

Tony had expected to die on that ship. With the prospect of no food, water or oxygen, there was little hope of survival. He had accepted it though, half the universe was dead; Tony had failed to save them so what was one more death? It had come full circle in the form of bitter irony. In the Battle of New York, Tony had almost died in space after succeeding to protect the earth. Now, he was going to die in space after he had failed to protect the universe.

He just hoped that the universe had enough soul left to keep Pepper alive. Even if it tried to kill her, he hoped that her strength and determination would scare the universe away before it could even think about tearing her to shreds like it had done to half the universe. Like it had done to Peter.

He was never going to see Pepper again. Sure, there was a fifty per cent chance that she was already dead but if by some miracle she had survived, Tony was never going to see her again. He would give anything to see her again. But that just wasn’t going to happen. Funny how the universe just fucks things up again and again and again. He was never going to see her again and Tony could almost hear the universe mocking him while he suffered this cruel and merciless punishment.

But then the lady who glowed showed up, and she carried the spaceship back to earth.

First Nebula and then Captain Spangles had to help him down from the ship. He was too weak to walk himself. The stab wound and the malnourishment just more signs of Thanos’ victory over him.

“I couldn’t stop him.”

“Neither could I.”

“I lost the kid.” He said to Steve, desperation in his eyes.

“We all lost.” Steve replied. Tony thought that Steve’s words were intended to comfort him but instead they just reminded him of the enormity of what they had lost, causing another wave of grief to hit Tony.

He moved away from Steve, because the one person who he had hoped had made out of it alive was moving towards him, flinging her arms around him.

Pepper.

She was alive, she had made it. They both had made it.

* * *

**23 days post snap**

The IV that Bruce had injected into him was scratchy. Ever since Bruce had inserted it, Tony just wanted to forget about it but he couldn’t let himself forget about it. Forgetting about the scratchy IV meant that he would have to remember everything else. It meant he would remember Peter.

The other Avengers had rather unhelpfully decided to show him a screen which showed him all of the Avengers or their allies who had died. It was just a reminder of what their failures had caused. He had to avert his eyes when Peter’s face came on the screen. The photos were just rubbing salt in the wound and Tony longed for it to stop.

Being back on earth made everything more real. Everywhere he looked, there was grief and chaos. Tony couldn’t help but blame himself for what had happened.

Well, him and one other person.

The ever so righteous Steve Rogers would not shut up about sticking together and a whole load of other bullshit that caused Tony’s blood to boil. Where had Steve been for the past two years? Where was Steve when Tony needed him? Did Steve really expect Tony to work with him? Did Steve expect Tony to trust him?

He couldn’t take it anymore. So he stood to tell Steve exactly what he thought of him. He didn’t care that Rhodey, the glowing lady and everyone else tried to get him to sit back down. All he saw was red. When he ripped the housing unit off his chest, all he saw was red. When he fell to the ground all he saw was red.

And then all he saw was black.

* * *

**24 days post snap**

The first thing Tony noticed when he woke up was the rising sun poking through the gap in the curtains, creating a stream of light that stretched across the room. The second thing he noticed was the itchiness from the IV that had been reinserted into his arm. The third, how the grief hit him like a tsunami.

“Tony?” A voice whispered. Tony turned his head to see Pepper sat in the chair next to his bed.

“Pep?” He responded, although it only came out as a whisper.

“It’s okay, I’m here now.” She responded, taking his hand.

“What happened?” He croaked.

“Well, you passed out after you ripped the arc reactor off your chest and gave it to Steve. So we brought you in here and Bruce gave you a mild sedative so you would sleep. He also gave you something to help with that stab wound as well as some nutrients because he said you were malnourished. At the moment, only me, Rhodey and Bruce are allowed in here, everyone is locked out to give you some privacy.”

“Good,” Tony scoffed, “Because I’m not in the mood to talk to most of the people out there, especially Captain Spangles.”

“Tony,” Pepper whispered, “I want you to know that you don’t have to tell me the specifics of what happened after you went on the ship right now if you don’t want to. But I’m here for you, whether you choose to tell me or not because I love you, and we’re going to get through this together.”

A tear rolled down Tony’s cheek, and Pepper used her thumb to brush it away. Then, she leaned against his chest and he ran his hand through her hair. They stayed in that position for a long time, Tony being comforted by her presence, thinking about what she said. Six years ago, he wouldn’t have told her what had happened on Titan, or at least not completely. Now, in light of recent events, he knew that he couldn’t keep all of this to himself. If he did, the weight of his grief would inevitably consume him and he couldn’t let that happen.

So, he told her everything.

It took awhile as he had to stop several times to stop telling her about what had happened in order to try and taper his anxiety. When he got to what happened to Peter, he had to stop for several minutes when the memory flashed before his eyes as he could hear Peter’s desperate pleas in his mind, see his agonised expression as he finally resigned to his fate. There was nothing Tony could do about it then, and Tony was still at the mercy of his memory, playing the scene over and over again in his mind like a broken record stuck on a loop.

But the whole time, Pepper was there, holding his hand and helping him breathe, grounding him in this reality. She didn’t say a single word; she just listened to his story.

When he finally finished, they were both crying.

“The worst part is I got relatively lucky. I mean I still have you while some people lost everyone. But even with that, all I can think about is how Peter died in my arms and I was completely powerless. He wasn’t even my own child but every time I close my eyes, I see his face. The closest thing I will ever have to a child is dead and I failed to save him.”

Pepper suddenly shot up from where she was sat and ran her fingers through her hair.

“He’s not the closest thing you’ll ever have to a child.” She whispered.

“What?” Tony replied, confused.

Pepper reached down for her bag and pulled out a small piece of paper. Staring down at it she said, “I was going to wait to tell you this until you were feeling better, for weeks I’ve been planning this whole special thing as a way to tell you if I ever saw you again but I can’t wait anymore. Tony do you remember that dream you had the night before Thanos came, the one that you said felt so real?”

“Yeah, we had a kid and...” Tony paused, slowly coming to the realisation.

“The dream is coming true, I’m pregnant.” She said, handing him the piece of paper, which was a photo from an ultrasound. “I took a test after you went with Bruce and Dr. Strange, your dream made me think that I might be. I tried to tell you when I called you but then the call cut out and I couldn’t. And I was so scared you wouldn’t come back, and our child wouldn’t know their father but now you’re here and please say something.”

Tony looked at her, shocked. But then he looked at the photo and realised that he was going to be a father. _This is a second chance_. He smiled, for the first time in weeks. He had found his glimmer of hope in what had originally felt like an endless oblivion of despair.

“We’re going to be okay aren’t we?”

* * *

**7 months post snap**

“It’s a girl!” The midwife exclaimed.

The small cries of their daughter filled the room and Tony couldn’t help but laugh. That was his child. His little girl.

He had his arm around Pepper and kissed the top of her head. She’d done brilliantly and Tony had never loved her more in that moment.

“Would you like to hold your daughter Mr. Stark?” The midwife asked Tony, holding out his daughter towards him. He took her and everything finally felt right with the world. Sure, he still felt the loss of Peter so heavily that sometimes, it physically hurt him. But now, holding his little girl in his arms, he finally felt like he was somewhat at peace with what had happened.

“Hi there baby girl, I’m your daddy.” He whispered, “I love you more than you’ll ever know and I’m gonna give you the whole world.”

He put his daughter in her mother’s arms, and then they all sat together, the three of them all as a family.

* * *

**1 year post snap**

Some days were worse than others. Some days the grief was so strong that Tony felt like it would swallow him whole. Today was one of those days.

Tony longed for Peter to be alive again. He wanted to sit with him in his new lab in the garage and work on some new project with him. He wanted Peter to meet Morgan. He longed to hear his voice again. He longed to see him again.

So, after he had put Morgan down to sleep and Pepper had gone to bed, he went to the third bedroom, unlocked the door and went inside.

The room was painted in red and blue. On the desk, there were blueprints for various Spider-Man suits as well as several pieces of tech and equipment that Peter regularly used to build stuff. On the walls, various photos of Peter lined the walls. Ones of him with Tony, with May, as Spider-Man and other photos that Tony had captured in the two years that he had known Peter before the snap.

The room was Peter’s room. Tony knew that Peter was probably never going to be able to see it but nevertheless, Tony came here whenever he wanted to feel close to Peter.

So, he sat down on the chair and started speaking.

“Hey Underoos.” He said, pausing for an answer, although there never was a reply.

“So I thought of another few new web combinations earlier. I mean, you’re probably never going to use them but I can just imagine the dorky look on your face if I told you about them. I mean, I could tell Morgan about them but she’s only five months old so when I tell her about them, she just stares at me. It’s a cute stare, but she has no idea what I’m talking about.”

He paused again, staring at the photos on the wall.

“I miss you Pete, I miss you so much it hurts. I know I have Morgan and Pepper and this new life but I miss you so much. You deserved the world, you were the smartest, kindest and most selfless kid that I’ve ever met and you deserved everything. But we couldn’t stop him and you died in my arms. And for that I’m so sorry. I’m sorry that I couldn’t protect you. I’m sorry you were one of the fifty per cent of all life who had to die. I’m sorry that I’m still here and you’re not. I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry.”

With that, Tony broke down. Loud, heavy sobs forcing themselves out of his body. Sobs that were full of the grief that Tony felt over Peter.

* * *

**4 years post snap**

“Daddy, whose room is this?” A small voice came from the doorway. Tony berated himself for leaving the door to Peter’s room open. He had come in for some alone time but he didn’t close the door behind him so Morgan was able to follow him in here.

“This is Peter’s room, Morgan.”

“Who’s Peter?” She asked, coming to climb on his knee.

“Peter is your brother, well your sort of brother.”

“How can I have a sort of brother?”

“Well, he isn’t my son physically, but I see him as a son.”

“Then where is he now?”

Tony looked down at the floor. How was he supposed to explain the snap to a two year old?

“Well,” Tony said slowly, choosing his words carefully, “Peter had to go away so he can’t be here.” She was too young to understand what had happened. He sometimes wished that he shared her innocence.

“Does that make you sad Daddy?” Morgan asked.

“Yeah,” Tony’s voice cracked, “It does.”

Morgan wrapped her arms around her dad, and Tony instantly began to feel better. She really did give great hugs.

“Would you tell me a story about him?” She whispered into his chest.

“Sure,” Tony said, kissing the top of his daughter’s head, “Why don’t I tell you about the time that he caused a web explosion in my lab?”

* * *

**5 years post snap**

What they were suggesting was crazy. Time travel? Even if they could work it out, opening that Pandora’s Box could be incredibly dangerous. One misstep and they could end up in some parallel universe or just make everything worse.

He could end up losing Morgan.

Tony understood that Nat, Steve and Scott had the best intentions but no, Tony couldn’t do it. He couldn’t risk losing what he found. Yes, he wanted to see Peter again but he couldn’t risk losing Pepper and Morgan. So, he turned down their request for help.

After the others had left, however, Tony’s mind kept finding its way back to their proposition. He tried to forget about it but the idea of time travel wouldn’t leave his brain. Theories and ideas kept floating around his head before he kept shutting them down. _No it’s too dangerous. There’s no guarantee that it would work and even if it did, what would happen to what I’ve found_. He knew that this was probably his only chance to see Peter again but frankly, he was scared.

That is, until he saw the photo on the shelf in the kitchen.

Seeing the photo of Peter’s infectious smile made his heart ache with another wave of grief. God he missed him so much and longed to see him again. What was is like for those who lost so much more than he had? Time travel was his only chance to see him again, for everyone to see those they lost again. 

_‘When you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen? They happen because of you.’ _

Peter’s words from their first meeting in his apartment in Queens rang around in Peter’s head. Peter was right; Tony had the ability to invent time travel, to reverse the snap, to bring everyone back but he wouldn’t because he was scared. So no one seeing their loved ones again was all on him.

He had to do this.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y, pull up everything you have on the Quantum Realm.”

* * *

**The Battle**

Tony was sure that the giant alien was going to kill him. After it had thrown him against the rubble, he started shooting his repulsors at it but they were doing much good. He braced himself for the impact of its sword.

But then something caught hold of it before it could stab him and pulled him away, putting it in Scott’s path. Tony looked around, trying to find who had saved him. A figure was running towards him. His suit was covered in dirt from the battle but the spider emblem was unmistakable.

Peter.

His mask retracted as he leant down to help Tony to his feet, making his face visible. Now Tony was standing in front of his kid, looking at him as he excitedly babbled on about Titan like nothing was wrong. He was here, he was real. Tony never thought this would happen, he never thought he would see Peter again and now he was here.

“Come here kid, hold me.” He said quietly, pulling Peter in for a hug. Although he was confused at first, Peter returned the hug.

Tony had rejected the kid’s hug after Germany, saying they weren’t there yet. When Peter was gone, Tony had deeply regretted that moment, he wished to see Peter again so badly that he would never reject another hug if it meant seeing him again. Now he was here, Tony wasn’t going to waste another opportunity.

Tony smiled, he finally had his kid back.

* * *

**Present day**

“So that’s basically everything you need to know about what happened in the five years.” Tony said, before looking down at the table.

It took a minute for Peter to work out what to say as he was trying to make sense of what Tony had told him. 

“Mr. Stark, I want to thank you for telling me that, it can’t have been easy for you.” Peter finally said.

“Just try not to give me any more grey hairs again, ever. I don’t think I could handle you having another near death experience.”

“I don’t think your grey hairs need my help, Mr. Stark, they seem to be doing just fine on their own.” Peter replied, Tony’s mouth dropped open and Peter laughed at his own cheek.

“You know what, for that comment, you’re grounded.” Tony retorted, ignoring the kid’s laughs.

The awkwardness which had been present since Peter had come here had finally disappeared. The past few days, Peter could feel that he was holding back from Tony, probably afraid that none of this was real and one day he would wake up and Tony would be dead again. Now, Tony could feel that their relationship was the closest level that it had been since before Thanos. They had a long way to go, but Peter was finally comfortable around him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I may have made myself cry writing this one, multiple times... I apologise for any emotional distress if any occurred whilst reading this chapter...  
I'm really proud of this chapter, I literally poured everything into this chapter, it was by far the one that took the longest to write and took the most out of me emotionally (especially since I went back and watched the scenes I needed, multiple times (I was ever so slightly emotionally traumatised by Infinity War and Endgame)). It wasn't in my original plan, but when I got to writing this part of the story, it just felt like a more interesting way to present this part of Tony and was a way where I could explore his character a lot more. I also didn't originally intend for it to be this long, it kinda just happened...  
I'd like to thank my betas again for the encouragement they've given me and for the correction of grammatical errors (not that great a typer!) Once again, I don't know when the next update will be, university life is hectic and I don't have as much time to write anymore. I do have up to chapter 17 written but I want to try and have 18 written before the next chapter is published. So please, bear with me, I've love writing this fic and really want to share it with my fellow fans!!!


	7. Stay With Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, me again.
> 
> I know it's been awhile but uni life has been completely hectic and I barely have enough time to write anymore. However, I only have five and a half chapters to write and the winter break starts soon so hopefully I'll be able to write some more then. Anyway, here's chapter 7, hope you guys enjoy!!!

_“If you were good enough, maybe Tony would still be alive.” A booming voice encompassed Peter’s senses. _

_Sensitive to the noise, Peter cowered in front of a worn out gravestone with the name Anthony Edward Stark etched onto its weathered face. _

_“No, Tony’s alive, I saw him.” Peter whispered, attempting to push himself up into a standing position. However, before he could fully stand up, a dirty, mangled hand forced its way up through the ground in front of the grave, sending a small explosion of dirt into the air around it. It grasped at the air around it, searching for something to help pull the rest of its form up. Slowly, it found the strength it was looking for and began to emerge from the depths of its grave. _

_When the figure had fully emerged out of the ground, Peter’s eyes widened in horror. It was the broken, dead form of Iron Man. The mask was rotting away and a section of a skull was visible through the gaping hole it had left. While the space where one eye was supposed to be was reduced to the gaping eye socket, the other eye of a mask glowed menacingly down at Peter. _

_Peter screamed and started scrambling backwards away from this version of his mentor. Its broken form crawled forward towards Peter. Beginning to panic, Peter fell back down to the ground. He gasped from the shock of the fall._

_“Please Mr. Stark, it’s me, Peter. This isn’t real, you’re alive this isn’t real.” Peter yelled at the body of his mentor, tears streaming down his face behind his mask. _

_He attempted to scramble away from it, but he wasn’t fast enough. The fake Iron Man grabbed hold of Peter’s ankle. He thrashed against the hand trying to free himself from its grip. But it was no use. It was too strong so it started to drag Peter back towards the grave from which it had emerged._

_“No!” Peter yelled._

_“Peter!” Tony’s voice yelled at him through the Iron Man mask._

_“No. You’re not real. You’re not real!”_

“Peter!” Tony said frantically as Peter shot up in bed, thrashing his arms about in defence. Tears rolled down his face and he struggled to breathe through his sobs.

“Where – Where am I?” Peter choked through his sobs.

“You’re in my lake house. You’re safe.” Tony said trying to grab hold of one of Peter’s flailing limbs. He’d taken the metal one off, leaving only his left arm to try and stop Peter from thrashing out and accidentally hitting him in his dazed state.

“But – But I was in the graveyard and your body was coming after me because it said I – I wasn’t good enough to save you.” He sobbed.

Tony looked at Peter with concerned eyes, “You were having a nightmare. It wasn’t real. And besides, even if I had died, it wouldn’t have been your fault. Me using the gauntlet was the only way to stop Thanos, you couldn’t have done anything. It is _not _your fault.”

“It wasn’t real?” Peter asked through his sobs.

“No, it wasn’t. Now, let me help you get my breathing under control so follow my breaths.”

It took several minutes of Tony talking Peter through slow, deep breaths for Peter to find his breath again. In for seven, out for seven, repeat. Eventually, Peter’s breaths had calmed to a normal level so he just leaned into Tony, who ran his hand through Peter’s hair, helping him to try and relax more.

“You want to talk about it?” He whispered. Peter shook his head against Tony’s shoulder.

“Okay kiddo, I’ll let you get away with not talking this time but next time you may not be so lucky.”

“Can you just stay with me?” Peter whimpered.

“Sure, kid. Move over though, as much as these burns have healed, I don’t think it will be good for them to have a sixteen year old spider kid to be using them as a pillow.”

Peter moved across the bed to let Tony climb in. Once Tony was in bed though, he slid back over and nestled into Tony’s side. In return, Tony put his arm around the teenager and rubbed his thumb in circles on his back, just like he sometimes did with Morgan. Eventually, Peter’s breaths deepened into a steady rhythm that indicated to Tony that he had fallen asleep again. He looked down at Peter’s sleeping form, wondering what had happened exactly to affect Peter this much. Unable to find an answer, Tony gradually allowed his own breathing also began to deepen after awhile as well and he too was able to drift back into a gentle sleep.

When Tony woke up the next morning, Peter was still asleep. Deciding to allow the kid to get some more sleep, he most certainly needed it, Tony eased his way out from under Peter’s grasp and crept towards the door. After going to his room to retrieve his arm, he went downstairs to make coffee when he overheard Pepper on the phone.

“Yes, I know the allegations surrounding Peter Parker right now but he is still a Stark Industries employee and a minor. We need to pursue legal action against the Daily Bugle and multiple other news outlets for releasing the image of a minor without consent from him or his guardian and also we need to start considering suing for defamation, although that will have to wait for a little while. I need you to get on the action about the releasing the images though ASAP.”

She hung up the phone and looked at Tony with an exasperated expression on her face.

“That was the lawyers,” she explained, “They were reluctant to move forward with legal action because of the ‘allegations’ surrounding Peter so apparently it would be wise for Stark Industries to distances ourselves from him, given our ‘past affiliations’ with him.”

“What?” Tony replied angrily, “That’s crazy! What did you say to them?”

“Well, basically, I told them that Peter was a child who Tony Stark wholeheartedly trusted and Stark Industries needs to stand by him.”

“Did you use the ‘Tony would be turning in his grave watching his company turn their back on his protégée’ card?” Tony asked.

“Well,” Pepper paused before smiling, “Yes.”

Tony chuckled, “Even dead they’re terrified of me.”

Pepper sighed, like she wanted to ask him to stop making jokes about his ‘death’. However, she instead chose to put her arms around her husband, grateful for his presence.

“You didn’t come back to bed last night. Were you with Peter the whole time?” She asked.

“Yeah,” Tony replied, “He needed me to stay with him until he fell asleep and then I ended up falling asleep too.”

“That bad huh?” Pepper asked, pulling away from Tony so she could look at him.

Tony nodded, “It was awful, he kept screaming about something not being real and it took me ages to get his breathing under control again. I don’t know what to do, Pep, he’s so broken. Something must’ve happened to him in Europe with that Mysterio guy and now he has to deal with the world finding out his identity and thinking he’s a psychopathic mass murderer. How are we going to deal with this?”

“Honestly,” Pepper replied, “I think the only thing that will help Peter move on from this is being able to return to his old life by clearing his name.”

“But that could take weeks and even then, his identity will still be out there, he can’t exactly go back to being an anonymous vigilante. Even if we don’t confirm his identity, the allegations will always be there, people will always have their suspicions.”

“I know but –“ 

Pepper paused, noticing something behind Tony. Sure enough, when Tony turned around, Peter was standing there awkwardly. He looked terrible. His eyes were red and swollen, paired with deep purple rings under his eyes. His shoulders were hunched, making his stature look so small. He looked more like a child in that moment than Tony had ever seen him. But at the same time, there was toughness to him that Tony had never seen before. Some of the naivety that Tony had seen in him when they first met had disappeared. What had happened to him in Europe?

“I don’t want you to act like I’m wrapped in bubble wrap or that you’re walking on eggshells around me.” He said, not looking either of them in the eyes, “I know you think that maybe acting that way will protect me somehow but it won’t. Just, please, act normally around me.”

He then turned around and walked out of the house, slamming the front door behind him. Tony sighed, not knowing what how to proceed or what to do.


	8. The Hero Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, me again. 
> 
> So I'm finally back at home after a long and hectic term and I thought that I'd give you a chapter as an early Christmas present (it's not Christmas themed though, sorry). I'll post Chapter 9 when I've finished chapter 19 (it really doesn't want to be written though). Until then, Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays and if I don't post anything else before then, have a Happy New Year. Also, I'd like to thank you all for the continued support, I do try and reply to comments as fast as I can. So, please enjoy!!!

When Peter slammed the door, he immediately felt incredibly stupid. _Why did I do that? Mr Stark and Ms Potts are going to be so annoyed with me now. What do I do now? _

He felt too stupid and awkward to go back inside and talk to them. Besides, he still didn’t want them wrapping him in bubble wrap. He felt like he deserved more than that. So, instead he went over to garage, planning to make some web fluid and work on his suit.

However, once he’d gathered the supplies that he needed and had sat down, he suddenly remembered that the work he could do on the suit would be useless. He was finished. He always knew that from the moment he had first put on that homemade mask that the moment the world found out his identity, he was finished. He couldn’t go on being a friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man now that everyone knew who he was. He can’t even go on being ordinary high school student Peter Parker anymore. Now, everyone would look at him differently, treat him differently, and expect something from him. Even if he didn’t confirm his identity, his life would never be the same again.

Anger boiled up inside of him. Mysterio had done this to him. He had trusted Mysterio and he had betrayed him. He had tried to kill him, twice, and now he had done this. And now, Peter’s life was ruined.

Needing to let his anger out, he grabbed the suit and flung it at the opposite wall. When that didn’t work he closed his eyes to try and stop the tears that were threatening to spill out of his eyes.

“Really? You’re going to throw a multi-million dollar suit that you made with my tech across the room? If you’re going to throw something across the room, at least throw something that breaks easily.”

Peter jumped, “Mr. Stark, you’ve got to stop sneaking up on me like that.”

Tony was standing in the doorway staring at the discarded suit. “You do realise that throwing a fabric suit across a room isn’t the best way of disposing it. Unless, you’re just deciding to take your anger out on it.”

Peter just stared at Tony, who came and sat on the stool next to Peter.

“Let me guess, you think your life is over because your identity has been revealed.”

“Was it that obvious?” Peter replied.

“Well, throwing your suit angrily across my garage was kind of a slight giveaway.”

Peter looked down at the ground. “I can’t exactly go back to Queens and be friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man like I used to can I? If I went back there, I’d either be arrested by the feds or hounded by the press, or both.”

Tony hesitated before replying, as if he was deciding how to reply to Peter very carefully. After awhile, he spoke, but still hesitated with his words, like he knew what he was about to say would upset Peter.

“Look kid, I’m not going to lie to you, this was always going to happen.”

Peter snapped his head up to look at Tony and opened his mouth to say something. Tony spoke again before he could say anything though.

“Someone was always going to use your identity against you. It was an inevitability. The hero life means you gain a few enemies along the way, and one of them would eventually use your identity against you. Yes, it sucks. Yes, I was hoping that your enemies could have waited until after you graduated high school and maybe even college but it’s happened and we have to deal with it. No, your life will never be the same again as your life is going to gain some of the things that come with being a publically known superhero. However, it may take some time, but eventually, your life will gain some sort of routine again and you’ll be able to live a somewhat normal life.”

“But Mr. Stark, you grew up as the son of a famous scientist and unveiled yourself as Iron Man at the first chance you got. I’m just a kid from Queens who chose to conceal my identity from everyone; the press have never wanted me for anything.” Peter replied.

Tony sighed, the kid had a point. They had very different upbringings and went about their superhero activities in very different ways. However, after Tony revealed that he was Iron Man, his life did change and it was an adjustment for him. How was he going to make Peter understand that he did understand how Peter felt?

“Look kid, I’ll admit that we’re very different, especially in how we try and save people. When I chose to ignore S.H.I.E.L.D’s speech, I was just expecting an ego boost. However, everyone started looking at me differently and expecting different things from me. I wasn’t just a genius CEO of a multi-billion dollar company; I became someone that kids would look up to. I was never that before and I had to find a way to adjust. I had to find a way to adjust to that just like how you will have to adjust to being in the public eye. It’s not going to be easy, but things are never easy in the superhero life you know that. But I promise that you’ll have me and countless other people to help you adjust, you won’t have to do it alone.”

Peter just blinked at Tony, still sceptical over what Tony was saying. He couldn’t see how his life would regain any sense of normality, or how it would even remotely resemble his old life. He did however know the only way he could even begin thinking about returning to Queens and find a new sense of normalcy. He had a hunch, and he needed to act upon it as quickly as possible.

“I have to take down Mysterio.” He said abruptly.

Tony was confused by what he said, “Didn’t Mysterio get himself shot with one of my drones?”

“That’s what he wants us to believe, he wants everyone to believe that I killed the man who saved them from the Elementals to try and tarnish my name. But he’s the master of illusions, he could’ve easily faked his death and is still somewhere, trying to find a new way to take me down.”

“I don’t know kid, there’s something about this that seems off.”

“I know it sounds crazy but trust me, he’s got to be out there somewhere. And I’ve got to track him down, upgrade my suit and find a way to stop him so I can try and get _my_ life back. I know I could be chasing something completely ridiculous and it will probably take me ages and it will be difficult but it’s my only chance.”

Tony looked at Peter, seeing the desperation in his eyes. Peter needed this. He needed to try and put together the pieces of the life that Mysterio broke. To Tony, it felt like this was the only way he could try and help Peter feel better and if it was good enough to make Peter feel better, then it was good enough for Tony.

“Alright Underoos, it’ll have to be you to take him down, but I can at least help you on the suit front."

Peter looked confused, “You’re going to help me?”

“Of course I am, I promised that I’d be here for you and at the moment, this seems like the only way I can keep that promise.”

Peter smiled, and Tony noticed something in his eyes that he hadn’t seen since he had found him on Governors Island. Hope.


	9. Cycles of Love

Peter stood alone on the patio of the lake house, barely able to contain his excitement. The past few days he’d spent either playing with Morgan, helping Pepper around the house or working with Tony in the garage. While Peter enjoyed doing those things, he was beginning to feel a little stir crazy. In the week since he’d arrived at the lake house, he’d had no contact with the outside world, since F.R.I.D.A.Y was out of action and his phone had been taken off of him for ‘safety reasons’ when he arrived.

But now he was waiting on the patio for MJ to arrive and he could finally get some news from the outside world.

When Happy’s car pulled up in front of the lake house and MJ climbed out, Peter’s face broke into a wide smile and he started to go down the steps toward her.

“Oh my god Peter!” A familiar voice exclaimed.

Peter jumped as the other passenger door opened and Ned climbed out the car.

“Ned, what are you doing here?” He asked as Ned pulled him into a bone crushing hug. Peter was a little stunned by his best friend’s sudden appearance and was still trying to process him being there, let alone pinning Peter’s arms to his body in his hug.

“I was so worried. I saw the video on the news and I was really concerned so I tried calling you about one hundred times but there was no answer so I tried calling May and MJ and even Happy but there was no answer. And everyone kept calling me asking me whether I knew anything but I knew nothing. I mean, I knew some things but I obviously couldn’t say anything about it. And then MJ finally came to my apartment after like two days and told me you were safe but you couldn’t contact us for everyone’s safety. But then she showed up at my house this morning telling my mum that we had a science project to work on upstate but then I got in the car and Happy was there and told me that we were coming to see you at Tony Stark’s house but I couldn’t tell anyone about this.” Ned explained in about one breath, not letting go of Peter.

“Wow, that’s a lot of information to take in.” Peter said slowly. He was beginning to find it a little hard to breathe due to Ned’s hug.

“Give him some room Ned, let him breathe.” MJ said as she walked around the car to stand next to them. Ned released Peter and Peter massaged his ribs.

“Hey.” MJ said.

“Hey.” Peter replied, pulling her in for a hug, kissing her on the cheek.

“Did you give the feds hell?”

“You ask like you don’t know me at all,” she smirked, “I think I even made one of them cry.”

Peter laughed and led them into the house and up into his room. He sat down on the bed and looked across at his best friend and his girlfriend, relieved that he could finally talk to them properly after days of being forced into silence.

“So what’s been going on?” He asked eagerly, desperate for news.

Ned and MJ both looked down at the floor awkwardly, avoiding eye contact with Peter, whose heart sank. Whatever the news was, it wasn’t good.

“C’mon guys, just tell me. I’d rather know what I’m up against than be left in the dark. So please, just tell me.”

“Well,” Ned started, “Firstly, my mom doesn’t know I’m here.”

“Well before you said that she thinks that you two are doing a science project. I kinda guessed that would be the case because not many people are supposed to know about this place.”

“Well that and also...” Ned’s sentence trailed off, like he didn’t want to say the next part.

“Just spit it out.” Said Peter, beginning to get irritated.

“She thinks you’re guilty,” he blurted out, “She believes that you were using the Stark tech to attack London and that you killed Mysterio.”

Peter was shocked, Mrs Leeds had always been so good to him and part of him hoped that she knew him better so she wouldn’t believe the first negative thing she heard about him. If she believed Mysterio, who else believed him too?

“Actually,” MJ started, as if she was reading his mind, “Public opinion is very anti-Spider-Man at the moment.”

“Everyone thinks that the video was legit so...” Ned continued.

“They think I’m a murderous psychopath. Great.” Peter finished for them. He closed his eyes, trying to keep control of his breath. Of course everyone believed Mysterio, they had no reason to believe anything else. Mysterio had seemingly saved the world from the wrath of the Elementals and then there was video evidence of Spider-Man causing the attacks and killing Mysterio. He was stupid to hope otherwise.

“What about the feds, what have they done about it?” Peter asked, preparing himself for what he was about to here.

“They’ve searched your apartment, but they didn’t find anything concrete because when they came here, Happy and May had the sense to bring everything with them. They’ve also questioned everyone who has any link to you to try and get any information: teachers, people at school, neighbours, us, Happy, May.”

“Oh my God I’m so sorry you had to be put through all that, I’m so, so sorry.”

Peter was beginning to panic. Everyone had been put through so much bother because of him. He closed his eyes; the lights were beginning to get too bright for him. He tried to prevent himself from crying, while he attempted to steady his breath.

“Hey,” MJ said, moving so she was sitting next to Peter, “It’s not your fault, you couldn’t have controlled any of it.”

“No, because if I hadn’t have gotten complacent, I could’ve stopped Mysterio sooner or stopped him from filming the video so then none of this would have happened. And now, you’ve all been put through hell because of me.”

Peter couldn’t stop the tears any longer. He pressed his hands to his face and started crying. MJ pulled him into her, rubbing her hands along his back and through his hair. Ned moved to sit on the other side of Peter and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

Eventually, Peter managed to steady his breathing and stop the crying.

“Look,” MJ said sternly, “We never want to hear you saying that any of this is your fault again because it isn’t and that’s a fact. Do you understand?”

Peter nodded and sat up again.

“To make you feel better Peter,” Ned said softly, “Just think of Flash’s face when he discovered that the guy he’s been calling ‘Penis’ all these years is the superhero that he created a Instagram fan-page about.”

Peter laughed, imagining the dumbstruck look on Flash’s face. That thought definitely made him feel better.

“Peter?” A voice said from behind him. Peter turned and saw Tony leaning in the doorway, looking concerned. Peter was surprised to see him, as Tony had said that he’d make himself scarce to give Peter some time with his friends, so was spending the day teaching Morgan to fish.

“Are you alright? I came inside so Morgan could change into some dry clothes because she decided that paddling in the lake without taking her shoes off or rolling up her jeans was a good idea and then I heard crying so I came to check if you were okay.”

“Oh my god,” Ned said before Peter could reply, “It’s Tony Stark.”

“The one and only.” Tony smirked, holding up his arms to acknowledge what Ned had said.

“Oh my god, you’re really alive. I mean, Happy told me you were when we were in the car but to see you now is just oh my god. Thank you for risking your life to rescue the universe sir, it was so incredible for you to do that.”

“Ned, please,” MJ laughed, “Please be quiet now.”

“Sorry.” Ned mumbled, but he continued to look at Tony in awe.

“It’s okay,” Tony said, “It’s always great to meet an admirer, I don’t get to meet many anymore seeing as I’m supposed to have died saving the universe and all. But anyway, are you alright Pete?”

“Oh he was just falling into his old guilt complex; we were just trying to talk him out of it.” MJ said.

“Well, if you’re sure you’re alright.”

“Petey!” Morgan yelled as she jumped onto the bed and climbed onto MJ’s knee. Sure enough, she was soaking wet and had mud stains on her face.

“I like your hair.” She said to MJ, reaching out to twirl a lock of her thick curls around her fingers.

“Thank you.” MJ replied awkwardly. It was clear that she had no idea of how to react to a five year old. Peter tried not to laugh at her.

“Can I play hairdresser with you later?” Morgan asked, completely fascinated by MJ.

“Um, sure, I think.” MJ replied.

“C’mon Morgan, let’s go find you some clean clothes and then maybe we can have juice pops.” Tony said, reaching his hand out to Morgan. She crawled off of MJ’s knee and ran over to Tony, taking his hand as he led her away.

“You’re great with kids.” Peter said sarcastically, smirking at MJ.

“Oh shut up.” MJ replied, pushing Peter’s arm.

They spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on everything that happened at the lake house and in Queens. Peter learnt that everyone at Midtown were constantly messaging them trying to be friends with Ned and MJ in an attempt to find out more about Peter but they were having none of it. Ned and Betty had gotten back together though. Peter found their relationship confusing, considering they had gotten together, fallen deeply in love, broken up then gotten back together again within the space of about three weeks.

“It’s just the cycle of love Peter.” Ned had told him, “If two people are meant to be they’ll always find their way back to one another.”

“You are so wise.” Peter had replied, mocking Betty’s voice, causing MJ to crack up laughing and Ned to throw a pillow at him.

Later on, they were sat on the patio, eating pizza when Peter decided that he needs their help with his plan. If he was going to find Mysterio, he was going to need his friends. After all, Ned had helped him with Spider-Man when no one else would and MJ helped reveal Mysterio’s plan and helped him escape when the video leaked. After Tony, he probably trusted them with Spider-Man related things more than anyone else.

“He’s out there.” He said. Neither of his friends replied initially, they just exchanged confused looks.

“Who’s out there?” Ned replied.

“Mysterio. He’s not dead, he can’t be. He’s out there somewhere, biding his time to try and take me down once and for all. And I’m gonna find him. I’m gonna find him and I’m gonna take him down and clear my name so I can at least try and rebuild my life.”

Ned and MJ stared at Peter stunned. They were unsure of what to say about Peter’s plan.

“I know it sounds crazy,” Peter continues, “But if I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna need your help. Please.”

They remained silent for a few minutes, exchanging glances but eventually Ned spoke.

“Okay, Peter, what do you need us to do?”

Peter let out a sigh of relief, “I need you to try and find out where the video came from. That way, we can maybe try and find Mysterio or one of his followers.”

“Okay. I’ll start as soon as I get home.”

“Speaking of which,” Happy said, coming out of the lake house, “I think it’s time for me to be taking you two back to Queens, it’s going to take several hours for me to drive you back.”

Peter’s heart sank, even though he knew this moment was coming. He dreaded the moment where they would get to go home to their lives and he would be left here away from the life that he longed for. Nevertheless, he stood up and turned to face his friends.

“Thank you guys for being here, I really needed this.”

“It’s okay Peter,” Ned said, “I’ll do what you asked and find a way to get in contact with you.” He then walked over to Peter and they did their handshake.

“You guys are such dorks.” MJ said, smirking and rolling her eyes.

“I wish I was coming back with you.” Peter said, pulling MJ in for a hug.

“Don’t you worry Parker, you’ll be swinging through the streets of Queens, giving all the muggers grief soon enough.”

He then watched as they followed Happy down the steps and climbed into the car. Once he had watched as the lights of the car faded into the darkness, leaving Peter alone on the patio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I finally finished Chapter 19 so I thought I'd give you a new chapter as a New Year Eve present. Thank you for all the continued support with all the kudos and the comments, it means so much. I hope everyone has a Happy New Year, and hopefully I'll be able to post again soon (I've just got to write chapter 20 first...).


	10. Useless

“The Police are still searching for Peter Parker after new sightings of drones similar to the ones he utilised in London were reported in Queens, Parker’s hometown.” The woman on the news said. Peter’s heart sank.

“Mr Parker, age sixteen, is currently believed to be the masked vigilante Spider-Man, who, until recently, tackled crime in his local area. However, after a video was released by the DailyBugle.net showing his involvement in the recent attacks on London and his involvement in the death of Quentin Beck, his motivations and actions have been called into question by the authorities and fans alike. Since the video was released, the authorities have been searching for Mr Parker, but there have been no leads as to his current whereabouts –“

Peter turned off the TV, unable to listen to the news report any longer. He put his head in his hands and groaned. He was right. Mysterio was still out there and was up to something. He probably wanted to lure Peter out of the shadows or something. Peter wasn’t sure of what he was up to but the people of Queens were in danger and he wasn’t going to stand for it. No. He had to protect them, whatever the cost.

Peter ran up the stairs and into his room, forgetting to be quiet as it was still early so everyone else was probably still asleep. Opening the door, he started rummaging through his chest of drawers and wardrobe frantically, unable to find what he was looking for.

“Where is it? Where is it?” 

“Peter?” A voice said from the doorway. Tony was standing there. He was still in the clothes that he usually slept in and hadn’t put his arm on yet, revealing the scarred remains of his real arm. Clearly, He’d been woken up by Peter’s outburst.

“I need my suit,” Peter said, not stopping to talk to Tony, instead moving to search under the bed.

“It’s in the garage, we were working on improvements for it, remember?” Tony said gently, beginning to sound concerned, “Besides, why do you need it so badly?”

“Mysterio’s been sending drones around Queens to try and lure me out the shadows. The people of Queens are in danger, I need to protect them.” Peter said, climbing out from under the bed and starting to move towards the door.

“Peter, don’t you think that running to Queens at the first sign of trouble is exactly what Mysterio wants you to do?” Tony asked as he shifted to block the door.

“I don’t care, people are in danger. When I decided to become Spider-Man, I took on the responsibility to protect them. If something happens to them, it’s on me because I’m the one who’s supposed to look out for the little guy.” Peter said, stopping as he got to the door which Tony had blocked.

“Let me past,” Peter said his heartbeat increasing and his breath quickening.

“No,” Tony replied calmly.

“For fuck's sake, let me past!” Peter yelled, panic and anger spilling out of him.

“No,” Tony replied, remaining calm, “You’re not thinking rationally. You need to calm down before you make any decisions.”

“I can’t calm down,” Peter continued to yell, sounding desperate, “I can’t calm down until I know that the civilians are safe.”

“And at the moment, they are safe.” Tony said, “From the sound of it, the drones are being used as bait to try and get you to return to Queens, rather than harming civilians. It’s a trap, and I think you know it.”

Peter remained silent for a few moments, trying to steady his breaths. Tony was right. Of course, it was a trap. From what the news report said, the drones weren’t weaponised, there was no immediate threat to the people. This was exactly what Mysterio wanted: for Peter to irrationally drop everything and go running back to Queens.

“I just –“ Peter whispered, a tear rolling down his face, “I just feel so useless here.”

“I know,” Tony said, wrapping his arm around Peter’s shoulder, walking him downstairs and sitting him down on the couch. They stayed there in silence for a few minutes, with Peter leaning into Tony’s shoulder while Tony moved his thumb in a circular motion on Peter’s arm.

Not long after they’d come down though, Pepper came downstairs carrying Morgan. When she saw Peter and Tony of the couch, she looked at Tony, silently asking for an explanation. Tony just slightly shook his head, communicating to her that now was not the time for an explanation. So instead, she led her daughter into the kitchen to start making breakfast for all of them.

Tony and Peter moved to the table to eat breakfast, although Peter remained silent while they ate, feeling too drained to engage in the casual discussions that the others were having. He didn’t feel hungry but forced himself to eat the pancakes that Pepper had made for him so that neither Tony nor Pepper would lecture him about his metabolism. He knew Tony was right, but that didn’t stop him from feeling completely useless stuck in the lake house. Peter just felt claustrophobic there, confined to a place where he was powerless to protect the little guy, the thing he’d pledged to do when he became Spider-Man.

He couldn’t take it anymore, so once he’d forced the last mouthful of pancakes down his throat, he quickly stood up, making Tony and Pepper jump.

“I’m gonna go on a walk.” He declared.

“Okay,” Pepper said, “If you wait a few minutes then one of us can come with you.”

“No.” Peter said abruptly, but he then continued, “No, thank you but I think I’d rather be alone if that’s okay.”

“That’s fine but make sure that you aren’t back too late.” She replied.

He ran upstairs and pulled on his trainers and a sweatshirt, before concealing his web-shooters under his sleeves. He then ran out of the house, grabbing his backpack from its place beside the door as he left. Once he was outside, he shot a web at a nearby tree and he pulled himself onto its branch before shooting another web at another tree. Finally, he was able to find a sense of freedom while he swung through the trees. Finally, he could have a taste of this part of his life again. Finally, he was beginning to feel like himself again.

He didn’t realise how long he’d been out for until he noticed that the sun had set and darkness was encroaching upon the woods. Jumping down to the ground, he realised that he couldn’t remember how to get back to the lake house, all the trees looked the same. A thick fog had formed on the ground, reducing any visibility to almost nothing.

He was lost.

Trying not to panic, he looked around him to try and find a way to get back to the lake house. He noticed the trail of webs that he’d left behind when he felt an all too familiar feeling making the hairs on his arm stand on end.

His spidey sense.

Before he could react, however, the ground below him was blasted apart and Peter was sent flying backwards into a tree. His spidey sense continued to scream at him but he was too winded by the blast to try and run.

“Hello, Spider-Man.” An all too familiar voice said. Sure enough, a tall figure wearing a red cloak and a fishbowl for a helmet appeared from behind the trees.

Mysterio.

Peter shot a web at him, although the web went straight through the figure. It was an illusion.

“Ha! You didn’t actually think I’d actually come out here looking for you did you?” He laughed. 

Suddenly, the trees around Peter disappeared and he was suddenly back at the compound, in the corridor where he’d turned down Tony’s offer to become an Avenger. Tony was at the end of the long, wide corridor, waving for Peter to come over to him, wearing his Iron Man suit. Answering his call, Peter ran along the corridor towards him, hoping that he would find a way out of the illusion, a drone to destroy or something.

However, when he was getting closer to Tony, jets of blinding lights formed across the armour, creating cracks in the red and gold metal as they spread across his arm and along his chest. Tony’s face paled, the lights coursing up his arm drawing any colour away from his face. Across his right side, dark burns began to creep up Tony’s neck and onto the right side of his head, creating a stark contrast to the paleness in his face.

The pristine compound around him crumbled, leaving Peter and Tony standing among the ruins of the compound that Thanos had created eight months previously. Fire surrounded them, dancing along Peter’s path towards Tony, mocking him as he ran. The six infinity stones appeared in Tony’s right hand as he collapsed to the floor, his body slumping against a pile of rubble.

_This isn’t real. This isn’t real._

But he continued to run towards Tony anyway.

Peter finally reached Tony, kneeling beside him. But he was too late. Peter was forced to re-watch the arc reactor fade into blackness and re-listen to his heartbeat slowly come to a deafening halt.

“You were forced to live through this and then Tony didn’t bother to tell you that he wasn’t dead for eight months, making you believe that it was all real. Does he even care?” Mysterio’s voice boomed from all around Peter. The volume made Peter yelp in pain and press his hands tightly to his ears.

“This isn’t real. This _isn’t_ real.” Peter said through gritted teeth, tears streaming down his face.

“He wasn’t there when you needed him, and look what happened.” Mysterio continued, causing Peter to yell out in defence.

“THIS ISN’T REAL!”

Tony’s body and the scene faded away. Peter was now in Venice, staring up at a huge statue of Mysterio that was looming over him. He was not the only one there though. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of people were standing around the statue. They were holding flowers and candles to lay in tribute to ‘their hero’. The canals were full of boats that were carrying even more people wishing to pay tribute to the great and powerful Mysterio.

“Look at them, Peter. I’m their hero. I’m the one who died trying to save them, trying to save them from _you_.”

Slowly, Mysterio’s mourners turned to stare at Peter, a look of loathing in their eyes.

“Without Tony Stark to hold your hand, look at what I was able to do. They love me, they loathe you.” Mysterio boomed, triumph in his voice.

The crowd were now all looking at Peter and were beginning to close in around him.

“You’re nothing without Tony Stark. Just a stupid little kid playing with the fire that he’s too naive to understand.”

The crowd were getting closer and closer to Peter, yelling words of disgust at him.

“Liar.”

“Murderer.”

“Weak.”

“Useless.”

“Nothing.”

The faces in the crowd began to morph into new ones. Now, hundreds, maybe even thousands of brown eyes were all looking at him. Thousands of Peter Parkers were closing in around him, thrusting all of his insecurities at him all at once.

Peter knew this wasn’t real. He knew it was just an illusion. However, the words the crowd were yelling at him, the words that he was yelling at himself struck something inside Peter, something that made him crumble. The dam that he’d created to keep the majority of his emotions at bay instantly shattered into a million tiny pieces, causing a tidal wave of unimaginable pain to hit him all at once. Through his tears, he let out a blood-curdling scream as he longed for it all to stop. He couldn’t take it anymore; he just wanted it to stop.

The crowd were beginning to crush him. Peter’s lungs gasped for breath but were unable to do so due to the panic that was beginning to set inside of him. He sunk below the crowd, letting himself be swallowed by the self-loathing he’d be holding back for so long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I want to thank you all for all the continued kudos and comments, it means so much!!! I hope you enjoyed Chapter 10, I'm going back to uni at the weekend so I wanted to make sure I could get a chapter published before I went back. So I don't know when the next chapter is going to be published, probably when I get Chapter 21 is written but I'm not sure when that'll be.


	11. Into the Darkness

_Tony had been taken aback when Happy, May and a tall, curly-haired girl had all stormed into the lake house, just after he’d sat down for dinner with Pepper and Morgan. Honestly, some people just had poor timing._

_Tony was about to jokingly reprimand them when he got a good look at them. They all looked dishevelled and flustered, and May’s eyes were red. She looked like she’d been crying._

_“Uncle Happy!” Morgan cried, running towards her honorary uncle, who scooped her up in his arms. As he picked her up, he looked at the table and saw Tony sitting there._

_“Tony?” Happy asked, tearing up at the discovery that his best friend was alive. May and the curly-haired girl’s jaws dropped to the floor at the revelation._

_“The one and only,” Tony said, standing up to acknowledge their new guests. When no one said anything, he continued, “I’ll explain later.”_

_“You’re alive?” Happy asked, his disbelief morphing into anger. His eyes narrowed and a red flush spread in his face. If he wasn’t holding Morgan, Tony was sure that Happy would’ve punched him for concealing the small matter that he was alive._

_“Hold on,” May said, sounding annoyed, “You’re telling me that you’ve been alive this whole time and Peter doesn’t know. Peter’s been struggling all this time, grieving for you but you’re not dead.”_

_Tony gulped, feeling a pang of guilt upon hearing about how Peter had been suffering these past months._

_“Okay,” the girl said impatiently. She’d appeared to have moved past her shock surprisingly quickly, “We’ve come here for a reason. You guys can shout at Mr Stark later.”_

_“Right, I’m sorry for barging in like this,” Happy started, moving past his shock and anger, instead turning the conversation to the reason they were here like the girl had suggested, “I know that everyone who comes here needs to be cleared by you first and I would have called but it’s an emergency.”_

_Pepper stood up to greet May by hugging her, “What is it and who’s this?”_

_The curly-haired girl held her hand to shake Pepper’s, who shook it back, still confused. “Michelle Jones, but you can call me MJ. I’m Peter’s girlfriend.”_

_Tony’s eyebrows shot up at the news of Peter having a girlfriend. Last time he had checked, he had no clue on how to talk to girls. Although, now that Tony thought about it, that was around six years ago._

_“But,” Pepper continued, still confused, “Why are you all here without Peter? Where is he?”_

_The three arrivals shared a look as if none of them wanted to explain why they had arrived so abruptly._

_“You haven’t seen the news, have you?” May asked slowly._

_Tony shook his head then walked over to the TV, turning it on. He got his answer when he saw Peter’s face smiling back at him over the headline ‘Spider-Man revealed as Queens high schooler, responsible for London attack’._

_“Shit,” Tony said, covering his mouth with his hand and closing his eyes. This wasn’t happening._

_“Tony!” Pepper reprimanded him for swearing in front of Morgan._

_“It’s okay; he said that was your word that you invented.” Morgan giggled._

_“He did, did he?” Pepper replied, her eyebrows raised._

_“This was the only place I could think to bring them,” Happy said, bringing them back to the moment, “When we saw the newscast, we just grabbed all of his Spider tech and left. We found MJ en route; she was with him when the news broke.”_

_“Why don’t you all come to sit down. I can make you a drink and you can tell us what happened.”_

_Tony paced across the living room as MJ recounted everything that had happened in Europe, with Happy filling in the gaps. This couldn’t be happening. Peter was in danger. Tony hadn’t been there and now Peter was in danger. The guilt threatened to consume him. He should’ve been there for Peter. Why wasn’t he there for Peter?_

_“Tony.” A voice said, bringing Tony’s awareness back to his surroundings. He hadn’t noticed his breathing pick up the pace or how there were now five pairs of eyes staring back at him, all of them worried or perplexed. You need to breathe. This isn’t about you this is about Peter, and you can’t help him if you panic._

_In breathed in slowly and replied to the speaker, moving to sit on the couch beside Pepper, “Sorry, where were we?” Morgan climbed onto his knee and hugged him. Tony instantly felt himself relax; she did give good hugs._

_“We were by Madison Square Garden when the news broke.” MJ continued, “I think his senses were beginning to overload so I told him to run and get away from any large crowds. I don’t know where he went. I made my way back to Queens and then bumped into May and Happy on my way and they brought me here.”_

_Tony rested his head on Morgan’s shoulder and closed his eyes. Where was Peter? He wouldn’t be at home or anywhere near it, the feds were probably swarming the area. He had probably gone somewhere to lay low until he could think of a plan to escape. So where would Peter go to wait when he was feeling guilty, upset and overwhelmed._

_Tony’s head shot up. He knew where Peter was._

* * *

“Will you tell me a story?” Morgan asked as Tony tucked her into her bed.

“Once upon a time, there was a little girl called Morgan who loved to go to sleep. The end.” Tony replied. Morgan only looked at him with feigned annoyance which quickly changed into a smile.

“That wasn’t a very good story.” She giggled, “I want you to tell me a story about Petey.”

Her request made Tony realise something. Peter wasn’t at dinner. He hadn’t seen Peter since he’d left the house after breakfast. That was strange. Peter was never usually out alone for this amount of time.

“Daddy?” Morgan asked, pulling Tony’s focus back. He stroked her hair and leant down to kiss her forehead.

“Not tonight Maguna, Daddy has some things to sort out, but I promise that tomorrow you’ll hear the best Peter story I can think of.” He stood and walked towards the door.

“Okay.” She replied, sounding slightly disappointed.

He paused at the door, smiling at Morgan. “I love you a ton.”

“I love you three thousand.” She replied, smiling back at him.

His smile widened, his heart almost bursting at his daughter’s words. Closing the door, he walked to Peter’s room, trying to see if Peter had returned without him realising. However, once he opened the door, he saw that the room had been left exactly as it had been when he had taken Peter downstairs this morning. Clothes were left tossed across the floor, draws were left open and the bed left unmade. His smile fell. Where was he?

Beginning to get concerned, Tony rushed out to the patio, trying to see if he can see him.

“Peter?” He called, hoping that Peter could hear him. When there was no answer, he began to get worried. With no F.R.I.D.A.Y, there was no way of knowing where Peter was, no way of tracking him.

“Peter?” He called again, running to the garage. He was able to find what he was looking for quickly and he slammed to the housing unit onto his chest. The familiar feeling of the suit encompassing his body was a comforting one. With the suit, he’d be able to find Peter. However, that comfort turned into dread when the suit didn’t go online after it had finished assembling. Shit. No F.R.I.D.A.Y meant no suit. _What am I going to do?_

* * *

_Tony moved Morgan off his knee and onto Pepper’s and stood up._

_“Where are you going?” Pepper asked._

_“I know where he is and I’m going to find him. I’m going to find him and I’m going to bring him here.” He said._

_“Tony, wouldn’t it be better for me to go?” Happy asked, “I mean, I’m guessing there’s a reason why no one knows you’re alive. Surely it would be better and probably safer if I went to go and get him?”_

_“Happy’s right,” Pepper said, “It’s not safe for you. There are still people who are after you.”_

_“I don’t care!” Tony shouted, making everyone jump, “I wasn’t there for him when I needed him. Please, I need to be there for him now. Let me help him.”_

_His eyes met Pepper’s, and he silently pleaded for her to agree to him going to find Peter. After a moment, she sighed and nodded her head._

_“Okay fine but you’re not going in any flashy car or anything. And you go straight there, and come straight back when you find him.”_

_He rushed over and kissed her forehead, loving her so much at that moment for understanding. Before leaving, he grabbed some food from the kitchen and some clothes from upstairs, knowing without a second thought that food and clothes were exactly what the kid would need. He then ran downstairs and out the door, leaving the others behind._

* * *

Without taking a moment to breathe, Tony ran outside, preparing to go and search for Peter himself. When he went outside, however, the darkness was closing in around him, making his head spin and his breaths short and unsteady.

“Tony, Tony where are you going? Why are you wearing a suit?” Pepper called to him, running down the steps towards him. She gripped onto his shoulders, trying to get him to focus and steady himself.

“Peter never came back, I can’t find him. I need to find him” Tony said, through gasping breaths.

“Okay, but you’re not helping anyone right now in the state that you’re in so please Tony, I need you to calm down.” Pepper replied calmly.

“I can’t calm down Pep! He’s out there, alone. He needs me. He needs me to be there for him.” Tony said, his voice full of desperation.

“Tony, we’ll find him, I promise. But please, I need you to breathe with me, please, just breathe.” Pepper pleaded, trying to remain calm but her voice wobbling under the strain of trying to hold herself together for Tony. She hated seeing her husband this way. She hated seeing him hurting in this way. She hated watching him falling apart. Pepper had watched him silently grieve for Peter for five years, saw the hope in his eyes as he’d found a way to bring him back, and then the frustration he felt about not being able to contact Peter when he’d woken up. Now Peter was staying with them, she could see how Tony finally felt complete. He had his wife, his daughter and his son.

She placed his hand over her chest, so he could attempt to follow the rhythm of her breathing. He complied, and slowly attempted to regain control of his breathing. When Tony stopped feeling like the world was spinning around him, he looked at Pepper with desperation in his eyes.

“I lost him once, Pep. I lost him once and it almost broke me. And I finally got him back but I wasn’t there for him. Now I need to protect him no matter what. I need to find him.”

“No,” She replied, “We need to find him. Together.”

Tony was so grateful for Pepper at that moment. When he looked at her, he could see the care she felt towards Peter and the concern she felt over his disappearance. She wanted to find him, just as much as he did.

He managed to let out a small smile, “Thank you.”

“We can’t both go out to search because Morgan can’t be left in the house alone.” She started, “I think we should take turns going out to search for him while the other stays here for her and in case he comes back.”

Tony nodded, “Okay, I’ll go first though, but with no suit, it won’t be as simple as looking for heat signatures. If he used his web-shooters, the fluid will probably have dissolved by now. We should take torches and supplies because, with his metabolism and thermoregulation, he’s probably at risk of hypothermia or going into hypoglycaemic shock or something.”

“Okay, but if you don’t find him in six hours, you come back. It’s not safe for either of us to be out all night.”

Once he’d gathered the torches, food, water and blankets, Tony set out into the woods, trying to search for a sign of Peter. No matter how hard he looked, there was no sign of Peter. It was too dark for him to see more than six feet in front of him. How was he supposed to find Peter like this? It felt hopeless.

* * *

_He’d been right about Governor’s Island. After all, it had been the place where he’d gone after he’d screwed the pooch with the ferry boat and was feeling overwhelmingly guilty about the situation. When Tony pulled his car up in an alley near the docks, he could see a red and black figure jumping onto the top of the tower, right where he’d been after the whole Staten Island Ferry debacle. Of course, he was on an island where there was no road access though. He was lucky he’d thought to bring a suit that didn’t require an AI so he could fly over there._

_He allowed the suit to disassemble as he walked over towards Peter. He looked so small and vulnerable, more like a child than Tony had ever seen him. He didn’t hear Tony coming though; he was too deep in his thoughts to hear his footsteps. Instead, Peter just started on a monologue, letting out his emotions. It took a moment to realise that Peter wasn’t talking to himself, he was talking to him._

_Tony’s heart broke when he made that realisation. From Peter’s words, he could hear the guilt and the grief that he’d been carrying around with him for months. Tony couldn’t help but blame himself though. If Peter hadn’t thought that he was dead, none of this would’ve ever helped happened._

_This was no time to wallow though, Peter needed him now and Tony wasn’t going to let him down again._

* * *

Six hours passed. No sign of Peter. It was time for him to go back to the lake house and let Pepper look. Maybe she’d have more luck. Besides, she’d have the advantage of light as the sun rose and begun a new day. So, reluctantly, Tony turned around and made his way back to the house

When he reached the lake house, he wasn’t surprised to see that Pepper had fallen asleep on the couch. Gently, he shook her awake and slowly, she opened her eyes. She looked at him hopefully, waiting for him to tell her that Peter was safe. Her eyes fell when Tony gave a slight shake of his head in answer. She yawned as she sat up, slowly preparing herself for her search.

“Are you sure that you don’t want me to keep searching for him? I mean, I’m happy to and you’re tired-“

“Tony.” Pepper cut over him, “You look exhausted, there’s no way that I’m letting you stay out for a second longer. You’ll be no help to him or yourself when you’re this exhausted.”

Tony sighed; he didn’t want to stay in the lake house, feeling completely helpless.

“I know you want to keep looking for him but you’re of no help to him now.”

“I’m just worried about him, Pep.”

“I know, I am too but we’ll find him, I promise you.”

Tony tried to hold it together as he watched Pepper fade into the darkness as she went out to search for Peter from the doorway. When the darkness had completely engulfed her, he finally let himself break down under the fear of losing his kid again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, me again.
> 
> Sorry it's been so long but, as I've said before, uni keeps me crazy busy and I barely have time to write. But by some miracle, I've managed to finish another chapter so here's Chapter 11, as promised.  
So I tried to do something different with this chapter. I apologise if anyone found it confusing and if there are any questions, please feel free to leave a comment, and I'll try and respond where I can. Thank you for all the support with the kudos and everything and I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. I'll try and post the next chapter as soon as humanly possible.


	12. Family

Another six hours had passed, and still no sign of Peter. A light mist had formed over the lake, giving it an eerie quality. The atmosphere felt off, but Pepper could quite put her finger on what felt different. Something had happened; she just hoped Peter was okay.

Pepper had never considered herself as being overly close with Peter. She often saw him around the tower or the compound when he spent time with Tony before the snap and she could see why Tony had grown to love him. She could also see how devastated Tony was after Peter had been one of those who had died in the decimation, and that caused her heart to break as well. However, she had never spent enough time with him for a close relationship to develop. She hated to admit it but it was true.

However, having him around these past few weeks caused all that to change. Pepper had learnt about Peter’s unintentional ability to worm his way into the hearts of anyone he spent extended amounts of time with. As she’d spent more time with him, she had learnt to love him as well. Sure, she understood that she would never even come close to being considered as a mother to Peter, May would always hold that position in Peter’s heart. But Pepper selfishly hoped that there was some love in Peter’s heart for her. If Peter was hurt under her watch, she wouldn’t know what she’d do.

Dawn was beginning to break, casting a dim light across her surroundings. It was almost time for her to go back home. There, she and Tony could rethink what to do now.

She was just about to turn back when she heard it.

A small, shaking whimpering sound came from behind a large tree. When Pepper looked behind the tree, relief flooded her limbs. However, this was swiftly replaced with heartbreak as she took in what lay before her.

Peter lay on the ground, huddled by the base of the tree. She was shaking like a leaf, but it was unclear as to whether that was from the cold or something else, an effect of what had happened to him perhaps. His eyes were red and swollen, although his eyes were lined with deep heavy shadows. He looked like a ghost, or at least he looked like he had seen one.

“Oh, Peter.” She whispered as she got the blanket out of her bag to try and cover him with it. When she reached down to coat him in the blanket, he flinched and tried to move away from her.

“Don’t- Don’t touch me!” He stammered, tears streaming down his face.

“Peter, honey, it’s me, Pepper.” She said slowly, trying not to startle him even more.

“No. No. No. You’re not. You’re not real. None of this is real.” Peter cried. Pepper was confused. She had no idea what Peter was going on about. What had happened to him?

“Peter,” Pepper said tentatively, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re just one of them, but what you say isn’t true,” Peter said through his sobs. Pepper was getting extremely worried. Peter wasn’t making any sense. It was like he couldn’t make sense of his surroundings. Even when he looked at her, it was like Peter couldn’t see her properly. He just looked straight past her into the dark woods behind her. He looked like he was watching for something to emerge from the trees surrounding her.

“Peter,” Pepper said, trying to not let the anxiety she felt be apparent when she spoke, “You’re beginning to scare me.”

“You’re just one of those illusions that Mysterio created to try and scare me.” He continued.

Suddenly, everything made sense to Pepper. That Beck guy who’d created this had been here and ambushed Peter with some sort of illusion. She didn’t understand how he had found Peter but that didn’t matter at this second. What mattered was getting Peter back to the lake house, something that wouldn’t happen if he couldn’t make sense of his surroundings.

“Peter,” She said, taking hold of his head so he was looking directly at her, “Listen to me. You’re Peter Parker. You’re currently sat in the woods a few miles from the lake house in upstate New York. You’re safe with me; no one is going to hurt you.”

He stared at her for a few moments, trying to comprehend what Pepper had said. Slowly, recognition and realisation flooded Peter’s eyes. Finally, he could recognise his surroundings and understand that Pepper was real. Rather than looking relieved, Peter began to take sharp, panicked breaths which paused now and then to let out a violent sob. Without hesitating, she pulled Peter into his arms, stroking his hair with one hand, rubbing his back with the other.

“It’s- It’s all my fault.” He sobbed after a few minutes.

“What do you think is your fault Peter?”

“Everything.” He continued to sob.

“You’re going to have to be more specific than that.”

“Tony dying, Tony not telling me when he didn’t die, Mysterio taking advantage of me, my identity being revealed. It’s all my fault because I’m just weak and useless.” He sniffled.

Pepper’s heart broke. What had Mysterio done to him to make him believe all that? From what Pepper could tell, Peter had been doing better recently. Sure, he was still struggling but now it felt like he’d gone right back to square one.

“Peter, none of those things are your fault,” Pepper said.

“Yes, they are.” Peter insisted through his sobs.

“Well firstly, Tony using the gauntlet was the only way to defeat Thanos. Secondly, Tony didn’t tell you when he didn’t die because he was in a S.H.I.E.L.D facility for six months and was unconscious for five of those months. And for the last two months, he hasn’t been able to contact anyone under any circumstance for his safety. Thirdly, Mysterio was a grown man who knew exactly how to manipulate and take advantage of a vulnerable sixteen-year-old. None of those things are even remotely your fault.”

“But-“

“No buts. Nothing about what’s happened is your fault. I know you’re hurting right now and I know you blame yourself for what’s happened but it’s not your fault. You’ve done _nothing_ wrong and it’s not your fault. It’s not your fault.”

They were both crying now. They both held each other on the forest floor as they silently watched the sunrise for the beginning of another day. Tears rolled down their faces as they both tried to process what had happened.

Eventually, Peter calmed down to a level where his breaths sounded more stable, apart from the occasional sniff from the crying. He was about to open his mouth to ask about some food when Pepper pulled out some water and a cereal bar from a bag as if she had read his mind. He reached out for them eagerly and inhaled both in a matter of seconds.

“Thank you.” He whispered.

“You’re welcome,” She replied, “Now are you ready to head back? Tony’s probably worried himself into a state.”

Peter closed his eyes, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologise.” Pepper said firmly, “It’s not a normal day for Tony if he’s not worried about you.”

“Really?” Peter gave her a small smile.

“Yeah, Tony loves you, more than you know.”

Peter blinked at her then slowly pulled himself to a standing position. He wobbled on his feet, so Pepper shot up, wrapping the blanket around his shoulders and gently placing an arm around his back to support him. Slowly, they began the long walk back to the lake house.

The sun had risen fully by the time Peter and Pepper made it back to the lake house, so now the sun cast a gentle glow upon their surroundings. The atmosphere that Pepper previously felt that something was wrong had disappeared; it had been replaced by a peaceful atmosphere.

As predicted, when they opened the door and stepped inside, Tony was pacing across the floor, looking pale and exhausted. He turned at the sound of footsteps entering the house, and when he saw that Pepper had found Peter he ran over to the teenager, pulling into a bone-crushing hug. At first, Peter didn’t return the hug so he just stood there with his arms awkwardly hanging by his side, not sure how to respond to Tony’s hug.

Slowly, Peter relaxed and raised his arms to reciprocate the hug, fully trusting his mentor to support him and be there for him. Finally, their relationship had returned to what it had been pre-snap, with both Peter and Tony supporting and understanding each other unconditionally.

“I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry that I couldn’t keep you safe Pete.” Tony cried into Peter’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry that I keep causing so much trouble.” Peter cried in return.

Pepper rolled her eyes. These two had guilt complexes that were as bad as one another’s.

Eventually, Tony pulled away from the hug to get a better look at Peter, holding him by the sides of his head to get a better look at him. He looked exhausted and freezing, with dirt stains and dark circles standing out in his pale face. In his eyes, Tony could see that Peter had been put through the wringer in the woods; there was a fear in them that wasn’t there before. But he was safe. He was safe and that was the main thing.

“What happened to you?” Tony asked him. Peter looked down at the floor in response.

“Mysterio,” Pepper answered for him.

“That son of a bitch.” Tony didn’t understand how that was possible though, no one was supposed to know Peter was here so how did Mysterio get to him. That was something that could be worked out later though. Right now, his kid needed him and that was Tony’s only priority.

“Do you want hot chocolate?” He asked Peter, who nodded and gave a small smile in response. Tony smiled and walked to the kitchen to make hot chocolate, leaving Peter with Pepper by the front door.

“Thank you,” Peter said to her, giving her a small smile.

“What for?” Pepper asked in reply.

“Finding me, bringing me back home.”

“It’s what any mother would’ve done.” She smiled.

When Tony returned with hot chocolates for each of them, the three of them settled down on the couch to watch a movie of Peter’s choosing. After a while, Morgan came downstairs and climbed onto Peter’s knee. Sitting there with the three of them, Peter finally felt like he properly belonged. He finally felt like he was part of their family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi,
> 
> Thank you all for your patience. Finding regular times to write is a nightmare but I'm trying my best. Also, thank you for your continued support, you have no idea how much I appreciate it. There are only three more chapters left to write now so once that is done, updates will hopefully speed up. Until then, please bear with me, I'll update as soon as I can.
> 
> xx


	13. Taking a Risk

Peter was lying on the ceiling, staring at his bed, monotonously bouncing a ball off the floor then catching it. Ever since Mysterio’s ambush, there had been no signs of any more illusion tech or anything that could be linked to Mysterio. They hadn’t even worked out how he knew where Peter was. So, for the time being, Peter was not allowed to go anywhere without Tony or Pepper. It had been almost a week and Peter was tired of being babysat. How long this would go on for Peter had no idea, but he was already going stir-crazy. Something needed to happen.

There was a knock at the door. Without opening the door, Peter knew that it was Tony on the other side of the door; he could hear Tony’s heavy footsteps walking towards the door. Without waiting for a reply, Tony opened the door, holding a strange-looking black box. He looked confused when Peter wasn’t on his bed. Peter decided to take advantage of Tony not noticing him. Silently, he crept across the ceiling to line himself up with where Tony was standing. Then, he moved into a crouching position and waited until Tony was facing away from where he was. When the moment came, he used a web to lower himself down so he was hanging from the web.

“You know, entering without waiting for an answer does defeat the point of knocking.” He said casually. The result was priceless. Tony jumped out of his skin and turned to face him. God, Peter wished he had a phone to capture the look on Tony’s face and the sound that he made. Peter laughed so hard he started spinning around on his web.

“What on earth is going on?” Pepper exclaimed after she’d run upstairs to see what’s going on.

“Everything’s fine.” Tony said, giving Peter a death stare, “The kid just decided to alleviate his boredom by trying to give me a heart attack.”

Tony’s comment only made Peter laugh even more. In his hysteria forgot that he was hanging onto the ceiling by a web and let go to clutch his stomach. As a result, he went tumbling onto the bed head first, before rolling on his head onto the floor. Pepper rolled her eyes and went back downstairs.

“Ha!” Tony laughed, “That’s what you get when decide to play pranks on the man who feeds you and gives you shelter out of the kindness of his heart.”

“Okay, point taken but I was so bored and you were right there. I couldn’t resist the opportunity.”

Tony shook his head, exasperated by the teenager in front of him. Both he and Morgan were going to be the death of him someday. He looked down at the box he was holding and sighed.

“I was going to wait until your birthday to give you this but I thought that after last week’s events, you may need a little something to cheer yourself up. Although maybe you don’t need it as you’ve found your way of entertaining yourself.”

“No, Tony, I’m sorry I won’t do it again,” Peter said, rushing to stand up. Tony smirked; it was fun to see the kid grovel for something. He handed the box over to Peter who excitedly opened the box.

“It’s a – What is it?” Peter asked, the excitement on his face turning into confusion when he looked at the box.

“It’s a long-range walkie talkie.” Tony explained, “I gave the other one to Ned when he was here. Now you have a way to talk to them without being detected by anyone.”

Peter smiled and looked at Tony, “Thank you, Tony.”

Tony returned the smile, glad that Peter was feeling better, and watched as Peter excitedly examined the walkie talkie, before turning it on and speaking down the receiver before turning around and going downstairs to find Pepper.

“Ned, Ned? Do you copy?”

“_Peter, Peter? Oh thank god, we can now have a way to communicate. I have so much to tell you!”_ Ned's voice said through the device. Peter let out a sigh of relief. Finally, he had a link to the outside world.

“Yeah, man. It’s me alright; Tony gave me the walkie talkie just now. What do you have to tell me?”

_“Right so I met Betty’s parents and while her mum is great, her dad is terrifying. He kept asking me questions about my future and he was really scary. I don’t think he liked me very much, especially after I accidentally spoke ‘out of line’ to him. And then we got in this huge fight about it after dinner and now she’s not talking to me so I’m going to send her a huge punch of roses to try and make it up to her.”_

Peter didn’t answer for a few moments; Ned’s relationship with Betty still really confused him.

“Anything about Mysterio?”

_“Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that. So I’ve been doing what you asked and I’ve managed to find the source of the video.”_

At this news, Peter immediately stood up and moved towards the door.

“Hold on one second Ned, let me go find Tony, he needs to hear this.”

Peter practically sprinted down the stairs.

“Tony? Tony?” He shouted as he opened the front door.

“Kid?” Tony asked, standing up from the bench on the patio, looking at Peter quizzically.

“We might have a lead.” He said, breathlessly. Immediately, Tony put a hand on Peter’s back and led him to the garage.

_“Peter? Are you there?”_ Ned asked through the device.

“Sorry, Ned, I’m here, we just needed to get to the garage to write this all down.”

“_We?” Ned asked._

“Yeah, me and Tony,” Peter replied.

_“Oh my God, Tony Stark is listening to what I found out,” Ned exclaimed._

“Ned,” Peter said, getting annoyed, “Now isn’t the time,” Tony smirked and rolled his eyes jokingly.

“What can I say? People just fawn over me.”

_“Right, sorry. Okay well, I’ve tracked the source of the video down to computer belonging to a William Ginter Riva. I tracked the GPS on the computer and I discovered that it was last used in a warehouse in Queens, not too far from LaGuardia. When I researched him I discovered that he’s a former Stark Industries employee but then he was fired by Obidiah Stane just before he attacked Mr Stark.” _Ned explained. Peter scoffed, of course, whoever this William guy is was hiding out right on Peter’s doorstep.

“I think I remember him.” Tony said, “I have a vague memory of his name being on a list of people who were working on replicating the arc reactor I built in Afghanistan that I was given in the fallout of Stane attacking me.”

“That could explain why he was working for Mysterio.” Peter said, “Angry about the way he was fired.”

_“Is there anything else I can do?” _Ned asked.

“Find more things about this Riva guy. He’s our only lead right now. We’ll consider what this information means and then contact you later.” Peter said.

He exchanged goodbyes with Ned then turned off the walkie talkie. He stared down at the device, trying to think of a way to utilise this new revelation. After weeks of nothing, they finally had a lead. Peter couldn’t help but feel optimistic at the news. He couldn’t help but feel like he was finally a step closer to getting his life back.

Tony, however, was less optimistic. He couldn’t help but feel like something was wrong about the revelation. Why would one of Mysterio’s cronies be hiding out in Queens, right on Peter’s doorstep? To taunt Peter? To try and create more evidence against Peter? To lure him into a trap? Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.

“Well, we know what we have to do,” Peter said, moving towards the crime map that they’d created.

“Do we?” Tony said, turning to look at Peter, “Because last time I checked, we had only just found out this information and we hadn’t discussed it yet.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Peter asked, turning away from the crime map to look at Tony.

“I’m afraid you’ll need to enlighten me, kid.”

“Well,” Peter said, exasperated, “I’m going to have to go to Queens to find and interrogate him, maybe even create a copy of the video.”

Tony just stared at the kid, amazed by his recklessness. Peter returning to Queens was a crazy idea, what with the Feds scouring the city for any trace of Peter. Did Peter have a death wish?

“Peter, you can’t go to Queens.”

“Yes, I can,” Peter said, getting annoyed.

“No, you can’t,” Tony said, also beginning to get irritated himself.

“Yes, I can! Tony, I have to!”

“It’s not safe! I have a bad feeling about it!”

They were both shouting at one another now.

“I don’t care, I have to go! I have to do whatever it takes to try and get my life back!”

“But is it worth risking your life on something that could potentially lead to nothing?”

“If I don’t take risks then I’m never going to get my life back.”

They stared at each other for a prolonged moment. Tony could see that Peter was desperate, his eyes gave him away. He knew that Peter was at his wit's end with the endless uncertainty, the sitting on his ass waiting for a lead, of being away from his life. He needed to feel like he was doing something that would help so he wouldn’t feel useless. Tony knew the kid too well; he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop him. Once Peter got his mind on something, there was no stopping him, no matter what Tony said. He wasn’t able to stop him going after the Vulture and he wasn’t going to be able to stop him now.

Tony sighed, “You’re going to do this with or without my help aren’t you?”

Peter nodded; Tony was right in his estimations. If he wasn’t going to be able to stop him, then he might as well try and make it safer for him.

“Alright fine, we’ll work something out.” He gave in.

Peter smiled, “Really?”

“Yes, but you’re having a comm that links to me the whole time. And Happy is going to be waiting outside in case you get into trouble.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Peter exclaimed, throwing his arms around Tony.

Tony sighed and then returned the hug. _This kid is going to be the death of me. _But Tony didn’t care, this was the happiest he’d seen Peter since he came here. And he’d wear that gauntlet again if it meant that Peter could be this happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, me again.
> 
> So with everything that's going on in the world right now, I figured a little more of this would provide a distraction, even just for a couple of minutes. The first paragraph is very coincidental, I promise. I wrote it months ago. I genuinely hope you are all finding a way to stay healthy, both mentally and physically. I'll try and post as soon as possible, I only have two more chapters left to write. Until then, stay safe xxx


	14. Coming Back for Blood

Peter pushed the glasses back up his nose. Before the bite, he’d barely been able to see five feet in front of him without wearing glasses. They had been another way for Flash to torment him, one of his favourite pastimes was breaking them then watching Peter struggle through the rest of the day without them. As a result, he had to put tape around the middle to keep them together as May and Ben couldn’t afford to keep replacing them.

When he’d been bitten, he didn’t realise that he could see without them until he’d gotten to school and Ned had asked him where they were. He could suddenly see perfectly without them so he automatically adjusted to not wearing them all the time. Now, he had to get used to the feel of the plastic frames against his nose.

Tony had given the glasses to Peter as part of his disguise. It had been deemed too dangerous for Peter to wear his Spider-Man suit on this particular mission, so Tony had given him the glasses as part of his disguise. He’d somehow managed to upload both E.D.I.T.H and Karen into them, although Peter had no idea how he’d done it with no access to any AI in the lake house. Nevertheless, Peter was glad that he had his AI back; he’d missed having her around.

The glasses, paired with a baseball cap and a hoodie completed his disguise. Peter didn’t understand how this made an effective disguise but Tony had assured him that a simple disguise could go a long way. He’d said that he knew from experience but Peter still wasn’t sure.

Peter was jittery throughout the journey into the city. Unlike the last time he made this journey, where he’d sluggishly watched the scenery pass by him, Peter could barely stay still, both physically and mentally. He fidgeted in his seat as he went over the plan again and again in his head.

“You okay there kid?” Happy asked from the driver’s seat.

“Yeah, just nervous. A lot is riding on today.” Peter replied.

“You’ll be fine, just stick to the plan and keep in touch with me and Tony on the comms.”

When Happy said that, as if on cue, the comm in Peter’s ear created static and Tony’s voice became audible.

“Kid, can you hear me alright?”

“Yeah, I can hear you just fine.”

“Now you stick to the plan. You go find Riva and distract him by interrogating him. While you do that Ned can sneak in and find the computer. Hopefully, he’ll be able to find the video and make a copy of it.” Tony reminded Peter, although he didn’t need reminding, it’s all Peter had been thinking about throughout the journey.

“I know Tony, distract and interrogate, then get out of there as quickly as possible,” Peter said.

“We’re here kid.” Happy said, pulling the car up in an alleyway a couple of blocks away from the warehouse. Ned was already waiting for them, looking just as jittery as Peter.

“Finally!” Ned exclaimed when Peter opened the door, “I was beginning to wonder where you were.”

“Sorry, but you know what New York traffic can be like,” Peter said as he climbed out of the car.

“Never mind idle chit chat.” Happy said flatly, “We need to get started. Now, Peter, you go in first and when you have located Riva, send me a signal and we’ll send Ned in.”

Peter nodded, not speaking. He’d suddenly begun to feel very nervous. His spidey sense wasn’t going off, he just felt apprehensive. What if it wasn’t worth it? What if he had taken all these risks for nothing? What if Ned got hurt?

“You’re alright kid,” Tony said through the comm, as if he was reading Peter’s mind, “I’ll be here the whole time, I can hear and see everything through the glasses. And you also have comms to Ned and Happy as well as E.D.I.T.H and Karen. You’re not alone in this.”

“I know, I’m just nervous.”

“I know but you know what you’re doing and you have your spidey sense. If that goes off, then you get out of there but if it stays silent, there’s no reason to worry.”

“Okay, I think I’m ready now,” Peter said, taking in a deep breath.

“You sure?”

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.” He sighed.

Giving Ned and Happy a last nod, Peter climbed up the building onto the roof. He crept along the roofs before he swung to the side of the warehouse and climbed through a broken window on the top floor. The room he climbed into was coated in dust and falling to pieces. Beams were falling from the roof and wallpaper was peeling away from the wall.

“Karen, scan the floor for any heat signatures.” He whispered, conscious of anyone that might be around to overhear him.

“No heat signatures detected on this floor, Peter.”

“Okay, is there a clear path leading to the lower floors?” Peter asked. He had seen floor plans of the building, so knew all the entrances and exits to the warehouse like the back of his hand. He just hoped that the route that he had planned to reach the lower floors was clear.

“You should just be able to use the staircases as you planned. There are parts of the corridors where the floorboards are rotted so I would recommend that you use your adhesive powers to navigate along the walls or ceilings when needed.” Karen told him.

Thanking Karen, he silently moved his way into the corridor. Sure enough, the corridor was in far worse a state than the room he’d entered through. The floorboards were rotting so severely that in some places; the wood had completely rotted away, leaving gaps where Peter could see down to the floor below. When that was the case, Peter followed Karen’s recommendation to crawl his way along the walls. When he reached the staircase, he chose to crawl along the walls rather than walk down them. He didn’t dare risk them. He didn’t dare make a sound. Every time a floorboard creaked, he froze; terrified that someone would hear him. Fear coursed through his veins, but he kept going, he wasn’t going to let anyone or anything stop him.

Karen didn’t pick up any heat signatures until he reached the first floor when she recognised a heat signature on the ground floor below them. There was only one, located right in the centre of the ground floor, in a vast room. It had to be Riva. It had to. Peter didn’t know what he’d do if it wasn’t. If it wasn’t him, then all of this was for nothing.

Peter let out a sigh of relief when he reached the door of the room the person was in and saw that it was Riva through the window. He had his back to the door and was leaning over a piece of tech that Peter couldn’t quite see properly. Whatever it was, he was too engrossed with it to notice Peter creep into the room. He let out a sigh of relief when Karen told him the computers Ned needed to hack into were in another room. Peter was thankful that he wasn’t putting Ned at any added risk as he wouldn’t have to try and find the video while Riva was in the room.

He takes advantage of Riva not noticing him. Peter crawls up to the ceiling and carefully aimed a web grenade at Riva’s back. When he fired it, the grenade successfully encased Riva’s body in a ball of webbing. Before he’d had a chance to register what had happened, Peter had swung down and pushed Riva to a wall, using more webs to trap him against it, and then swinging back up into a dark corner of the room.

“Good work kid,” Tony said through the comms, “I’ll send a signal to Ned now. Just keep him distracted until Ned tells you he’s out of the building.”

“I was wondering if you’d ever show up,” Riva said, scanning the room to try and find him. When he spotted Peter in the corner, he mouth curled into a menacing smile.

“What are you doing up there? You can’t exactly interrogate me if you’re hiding up there.” He taunted.

Peter swung down to the ground and walked up to Riva, looking him right in the eye, not letting himself be intimidated by him.

“There you are.” Riva jeered, his voice echoing around the room, “You couldn’t resist coming back for blood could you?”

“Those are more drones aren’t they? You’re planning something else, something big aren’t you?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Riva snarled.

Peter lunged at him, grabbing him by the neck, holding his fist back behind him. Riva made Peter’s blood boil. He was pathetic. The way he spoke to Peter, trying to intimidate him was pathetic. The way he did Mysterio’s bidding was pathetic. The way he went after Peter was pathetic. It made him sick.

“One punch and I can seriously injure or even kill you. So you better start talking.” He snarled.

“Okay. Okay! I’ll talk. Please don’t kill me.” Riva caved. Peter scoffed; he had dropped the facade so easily it was pathetic.

Peter pulled away to look at Riva, “I know Mysterio is still alive, but why are you still doing this? You already took me down so what more does he want?”

“He’s not going to stop.” Riva said, a cold sweat forming on his brow, “He’s not going to stop until he has complete control of S.H.I.E.L.D and the Avengers.”

Peter scoffed, “He’s delusional. How does he think he’s going to manage that?”

“Look how easily he was able to take you down. The others won’t take too much effort to destroy. The Avengers made some very public mistakes and paired with the information we got from S.H.I.E.L.D’s databases, we have all the information we need.”

“And you think they won’t go down without a fight?” Peter asked, disgusted by Riva.

“The Avengers are finished. With Captain America, Black Widow and Iron Man all gone, well supposedly gone, they’re just a bunch of enhanced individuals with no leader or purpose. They’re nothing, just like you.”

Peter’s blood ran cold. ‘Supposedly gone’. What did they know? Did they know Tony was alive? But how? Oh, God. Had Peter put Tony in danger?

“The illusions. You’ve known where I’ve been this entire time?”

“No, not exactly. It’s a wonder what you can find in the S.H.I.E.L.D databases if you can find the right access. It didn’t take much digging before we found a few files about your beloved Tony Stark and when you disappeared, we made a few assumptions from there.”

He froze. How had he been so stupid? He should’ve guessed, should’ve known Mysterio knew where he was when he’d ambushed him with those illusions. And now Tony, Pepper and Morgan were all in danger because of him.

Riva smirked, recognising that he’d struck a nerve in Peter.

“Where is Beck?” Peter whispered, his voice shaking in anger.

“Oh, you’ll see him in due course. Don’t worry; we have big plans for you and ‘Mr. Stark’.”

“Peter?” Tony asked through the comm, “Ned’s back with Happy, he copied the files successfully and he’s safe. It’s time for you to get out of there.” Peter couldn’t tell what Tony’s reaction was to this revelation. He had to know what had just been said, he’d been listening to this the whole time. Peter just wished he knew what Tony was thinking, or at least reassure him that it was always going to be okay.

Instead of walking towards the door, Peter walked back up to Riva, anger boiling up inside of him.

“You’re pathetic.” He said. He then pulled his fist back and punched Riva in the face, not hard enough to kill him, but hard enough to knock a few teeth out, maybe break a jaw.

As Peter was turning to walk out, Riva started to laugh, the blood flowing out his mouth. He fought against the webbing in his laughter, taking long, rasping breaths between fits of laughter.

“What?” He rasped, “You didn’t think I’d let you go that easily.”

Suddenly, the hairs on Peter’s arms stood up on end as his spidey-sense soared. _Shit. This was a trap. _A beeping noise sounded, echoing against the walls of the room, taunting him, an added reminder of the danger he was in.

He turned back to Riva, who was still laughing, although he had managed to free his arm and was holding a small device, his thumb hovering over the button.

Realising what was happening, Peter lunged towards Riva, hoping to get the device out of his hand. But he was too late. As if everything was moving in slow motion, Riva’s thumb lowered down to press the button.

“No!”

A low, deep rumbling noise sounded, getting louder and louder and louder. Peter barely had a chance to react before the ceiling came collapsing down on top of him.

The last thing he heard was Tony yelling his name through the comms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, me again. Sorry this chapter took so long it's just that Chapter 24 really didn't want to get written. But I manage to find the words for it eventually so here's chapter 14 as promised. I only have one chapter left which I'm really hoping won't take as long to write. After that I'll try and set a regular schedule for uploading, maybe twice a week?
> 
> Until then, I hope you enjoy this chapter and thank you again for all the kudos. I hope you're all staying safe at this time and I hope this fic can give you a distraction, even if it's just for a few minutes. xxxxx


	15. Not the Time for a Flashback

The first thing Peter registers when he wakes up is the dust. His body is coated in it and he can feel it between his fingers and beneath his fingernails. If he could move he would squirm from the feeling. It’s in the air as well. It scratches at Peter’s lungs as he’s forced to breathe it in. When he breathes out, it catches in his throat, causing him to choke. His lungs scream at him in protest but it’s not like he has another choice to breathe it in.

He opens his eyes, but his surroundings are flooded with darkness. He cannot see a thing. He’s just cloaked in a darkness that seems to have no escape.

It then when he registers the tonnes of concrete and brick and wood that are on top of him, trapping him in this prison. The weight of it causes unimaginable pain that coursed throughout his body.

“Karen? Tony?” He managed to whisper, although it took a great amount of effort. There was no answer, only crackling from the static coming from the broken intercom. Both the glasses and the intercom must be broken. That must explain the silence from the AI and his mentor.

He was alone. With no suit. Trapped under a building.

_“Peter, you’re young. You don’t understand how the world works...”_

_“The rich and the powerful, they do whatever they want. Guys like u, you, me. They don’t care about us..”_

_“True, but then again... I wasn’t really trying to.” _

_No!_ Now was not the time for a flashback. He couldn’t let himself go back to that place. He can’t let himself be transported back to what happened after he left the homecoming dance. He needed to find the strength to find a way out of here, and fast. If he stayed here much longer, he would either be suffocated by the dust or crushed by the building.

There was no other way, he’d have to try and lift the building off of him. It’s funny how history repeats itself in these ways.

Slowly, he tried to push shift his weight to try and move the building, but it didn’t move an inch. He was going to need more to find the strength to free himself.

Using all the pain and anger he’d been feeling for months, he took a breath and pressed the palms of his hands down on the ground and pushed. He gritted his teeth, trying to find the strength to push further. Slowly, he managed to push himself up onto his hands and knees. He rested there for a few moments. Peter could feel something wet on his face, but he couldn’t understand whether it was blood, sweat or tears, although he didn’t care. His body trembled under the pressure of the building on top of him, but Peter was stronger. He could do this.

Gradually, Peter rose to his feet, forcing the building off of him. As he did so, he could hear as brick and rubble toppled off the building and onto the floor. The building around him groaned in protest over being ripped further apart, sounding like it was in as much pain as Peter was in. The pain of it almost consumed him. His limbs were on fire, trembling under the strain he was being forced to free himself from what would otherwise be a dark and dusty grave. He let out a blood-curdling scream as he finally stood, holding the building over his head.

_Come on. You’re nearly there. You can do this. _

He pushed the rubble he was under up even further, and eventually, it rolled off onto another pile of rubble. As he did so, more dust and rubble rained down on top of him. The building, or what was left of it, groaned even louder. He had to get out. It wasn’t going to last much longer and if it fell when Peter was still in there, Peter was done for.

He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light. Little lights formed in his vision as he could finally stand up fully. He swayed from side to side for a second.

_No, you have to get out of here. Focus!_

Taking a deep breath, he looked around his surroundings. Luckily, the door hadn’t been blocked. He’d have to climb over several piles of rubble to reach it but he could make it. At least that was something.

He was about to leave when he heard a small whimper. He looked down to see Riva, whose foot was trapped under some rubble. He didn’t make it out before the building fell. Maybe Peter’s webs had stopped him from escaping.

Peter almost left him there. He could’ve. Easily. After everything he’d done to Peter, he almost deserved it.

Almost.

As much as he wanted to leave Riva there, he just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t let someone die. He would never be able to live with himself if he did. He would be no better than the criminal that shot Ben if he left Riva to die.

Sighing, Peter limped towards Riva, removed the rubble trapping him and scooped him up into a fireman’s lift. Climbing over the piles of rubble carrying a fully grown adult made it a lot more awkward, especially with the injuries that Peter had definitely obtained. But he managed to find his way to the door. The rubble had caused it to jam a little but with a little force, Peter was able to get it open.

The corridors were easy for Peter to navigate. The collapse had been worse in the room the Peter had found Riva in. When Peter left there, the damage was a lot less extreme. Sure, the ceiling had caved in places but Peter could at least hobble his way out of the building without having to clamber over more piles of rubble.

Finally, Peter made it outside. He had to blink several times to adjust to the bright sunlight from the dim and dusty warehouse. He was relieved that he was outside, away from any immediate harm. He probably had a multitude of injuries but at least there was no chance of a building falling on top of him again anytime soon.

He crosses the street and leaves Riva on the ground in a patch of shade. Someone would find him soon enough, at least now a building wasn’t going to kill him.

“You saved my life. Why?” Riva asked, regaining consciousness.

“Because,” Peter replied, looking at Riva with contempt, “If you died, it would be on me, and I don’t want your life on my conscience.”

He moved away, beginning to find it difficult to walk. The adrenaline was beginning to fade away, being replaced by exhaustion. His entire body was in agony now; he probably had a countless number of injuries that would have to be dealt with soon. His body was fighting the urge to collapse on the street but he fought through it, he just had to get to Happy.

He turned a corner and saw Happy waiting at the end of the alley in which he was parked. He was looking around him, his brow furrowed in concern. Honestly, Peter had never been so glad to see him. He started hobbling over towards him, wanting to get out of Queens as soon as possible.

When Happy spotted him, however, his face paled and his eyes widened. Judging by his reaction, Peter obviously looked just as bad as he was beginning to feel. He began to run over to him, putting an arm around Peter to support him as he reached him. Peter was relieved to have the support, but now that he had it, he found he could barely walk.

“Kid, what happened?” Happy asked, half carrying Peter towards the car.

“It was a trap. Riva had a device that caused the building to collapse on me.” Peter explained.

“But how did you get out?” Happy asked, confused.

“I lifted the building on top of me,” He explained, “I don’t think he expected me to have the webs so he didn’t get out. I couldn’t –“ He stopped talking when his spidey sense flared up again.

“What is it, kid?” Happy asked.

Peter didn’t reply. He just turned towards the East River. From where he was stood, he couldn’t see what was happening but he could hear the screams and the crashes that came from that direction. He pulled away from Happy, the sounds of people in trouble giving him the strength to fight through the pain. He limped in the opposite direction to the car, back past Riva and towards the street corner.

He got his answer when he reached the corner.

From where he was standing, leaning against the side of the building, he watched as a similar Hydroman to the one that was in Venice caused carnage in the East River, ripping and roaring its way around the river. It was bigger than the one in Venice, much bigger. He sneered down menacingly as his arms crashed through the water, forcing tidal waves onto Queens. He was a machine, and he would destroy anything that was near its path.

Mysterio.

It was a trap. How could Peter have been so stupid? Of course, it was a trap. He was lured into Queens and now he was there, Mysterio was taking full advantage of it. Striking while Peter was in the vicinity would just make him look guiltier and more suspicious.

Peter couldn’t breathe. His head spun. He couldn’t see. Well at least, he couldn’t make sense of what he was seeing. Happy was standing next to him, saying something but Peter couldn’t hear him. Everything was just blurred and muffled. Nothing made sense. Nothing felt real. The lights flashed before his eyes again.

He didn’t stay conscious for long enough to feel Happy catching him before he hit the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, me again.
> 
> I hope you're all well, I know its been a while since the last chapter but the last two chapters didn't want to get written. But I have finished the entire fanfic now, well I have a draft of every chapter, I just need to make edits on the last eight. But that means that I'll be able to post more regularly, maybe once a week? I don't know I'll work something out. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you're all continuing to stay safe and I hope you enjoy the chapter!!! 
> 
> xxx


	16. Totally Fine

Peter regained consciousness to the feeling of a soft comfortable bed underneath him, cocooning him in a warm comfort that was a welcome contrast to the hard concrete and brick of the warehouse. He attempted to open his eyes, only to find that they felt too heavy for him to prize open. Now that he thought about it, his entire body felt heavier than it should. Maybe he was still groggy from being unconscious. He groaned, wishing that he could go back to sleep.

“Peter?” A voice whispered. Peter tried to reply but all he could manage was another groan.

“Shhh, it’s okay, you’re safe now.” The voice said again.

A warm hand took hold of Peter’s, another, colder hand pushing his hair out of his face. Slowly, Peter found the strength to open his eyes. A blurry figure sat next to his bed, the warm hand holding Peter’s and the colder one stroking his hair. Peter blinked several times, and the figure slowly came into focus. As they did, Peter caught a glint of red on the arm that was stroking his hair.

“Tony?” He whispered.

“It’s okay, you’re safe now,” Tony replied. Peter could now see him properly, and he looked awful. His hair was dishevelled like he’d repeatedly been running his hands through his hair in different directions. His face was pale and his eyes were red boarded with dark circles; he looked like he hadn’t slept. The lack of colour in his face made the burns on the side of his face stand out, making them almost look the way they had after he snapped.

“You look terrible.” Peter croaked.

“Says the person who, for the second time in his life, found his way out of a collapsed building by lifting it off of him,” Tony said dryly.

It’s then that Peter notices the heaviness transform into something else a slight throbbing in his side, a gentle ache in his arm, a slight stiffness in his leg. Yesterday? Had Peter really been unconscious for a whole day?

“What happened?”

“Well, you were beat up pretty badly when you managed to get out of the building. So Happy brought you here and the medical team gave you emergency surgery. I raced here once Happy told me he was bringing you here.” Tony explained.

“Where is here?” Peter asked, looking around at his surroundings. The one word Peter could use to describe it was clean. The tiled floors gleamed from repeated scrubbings while the walls were painted a sterile white. The blinds were closed so Peter couldn’t get a clue of where he was, or even what time it was.

“The new Avengers Compound. Not many people have access to it yet, only the Avengers and other essential personnel. Happy brought you here to treat your injuries; the doctors won’t say anything about either of us being here. We’re safe here.”

“What was so bad about my injuries that my healing powers wouldn’t fix?”

“Kid, you had several broken bones, bruising and not to mention the internal bleeding.”

“That’s where the blood’s supposed to be.” Peter gave a weak smirk.

Tony blinked at him, “Did you seriously just quote _Brooklyn 99_?”

Peter smirked and gave out a small laugh, Tony just rolled his eyes.

“Anyway,” Tony continued, “You’re going to be pretty banged up for a few days and at the moment you’re being pumped full of pain meds. But the good news is that the doctors should let us take you back to the lake house today.”

“Is that safe?” Peter asked.

“Yes, it is. We’ll talk more about that later. Just get some rest now.” Tony said softly, continuing to stroke Peter’s hair.

“Stay with me?” Peter whispered as he began to drift back into a peaceful slumber.

“Always.” Tony smiled, pulling his chair up to the bed to be closer to Peter. As he watched Peter’s chest rise and fall slowly, Tony felt his eyes grow heavy, begging him for some sleep. Tony obliged, and soon he too had drifted off into a deep sleep.

The next thing either of them knew, high pitched squeals sounded as a small figure ran into the room.

“Petey!” Morgan squealed as she jumped onto the bed. Peter winced from the impact; she’d kneed him right in the abdomen, right where the surgeons had cut into him.

“Morgan be careful, Peter’s still hurt.” Pepper reminded her daughter as she walked through the door.

“Sorry.” Morgan said as she shifted to curl up on the bed next to Peter, “I’m just so happy to see he’s okay.”

“It’s alright Morgan. I’m glad to see you too.” Peter said, moving his arm to put it around her.

Pepper leant forward and kissed Peter on the forehead. “I’m glad to see you’re okay. We were all really worried about you. May was ready to go find Riva or Beck and kill them with her own bare hands until Happy and I talked her down.”

Peter smiled at her, “What was everyone so worried for? It’s nothing that my spider healing couldn’t fix.”

“If your super healing includes major surgery,” Tony said under his breath.

Pepper rolled her eyes, “Anyway, Happy’s waiting outside to take you back to the lake house. You’ll be more comfortable there.”

Much to his annoyance, Peter had to be taken to the car in a wheelchair. He said he was fine to walk to the car on his own. But both Tony and Pepper insisted on him using a wheelchair, as he was still recovering from major surgery and was wearing a boot and was covered in bandages. Morgan, however, took great delight in Peter using a wheelchair, especially as Peter let her sit on his knee during the entirety of the ride. Peter’s humiliation only worsened when Happy insisted on picking him up and putting him in the car.

“Really Happy? I can get into a car myself.”

“No can do, kid. I’m under strict instructions from your aunt to not let you get injured again and I’m not taking any chances. You should’ve seen her after she found out about what happened. I don’t want to have to experience that again. It was scary.”

To make matters even worse for him, Happy also insisted on carrying him up to his room in the lake house, where Tony was waiting for him to ‘tuck him in’.

“Is this really necessary?”

“Yes because we don’t want Spider-kids getting even more injured,” Tony smirked.

“May put you up to this.” He complained.

“We’re only trying to avoid her wrath.” Happy said innocently.

Once he’d been tucked into the bed to a sufficient standard, Tony and Happy left him alone. Peter groaned partially from boredom and partially from annoyance. He felt fine. Well, his leg was still aching slightly and if he breathed in too quickly, he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen where the incisions from the surgery were. But other than that, he felt totally fine.

It was dark out. Out of his bedroom window, Peter could see dark shadows stretching up towards the sky, swaying in a summer breeze. They weren’t very interesting, even with his enhanced sight, it soon got too dark for him to see them, and so his window became a black hole into nothingness, pulling Peter back into his boredom.

Confined to his bed, Peter had nothing to do. So, he was left to stew in his thoughts. That was never a good idea where Peter was concerned. As he thought back over what had happened, one sentence came straight back to the forefront of his mind.

_“We have big plans for you and ‘Mr. Stark’.”_

Peter’s face paled remembering this revelation. He’d put everyone in so much danger just by being at the lake house. Consequently, he’d put Tony right into Mysterio’s line of fire. Peter couldn’t lose Tony again, wouldn’t lose him again.

Slowly, Peter swung his legs around so he was sitting on the edge of the bed. A wave of dizziness surged through him as he did so and the pain in his side flaring up. He used the bed to push himself up, but he found that he could barely put any weight onto his injured leg without an intense pain flying up his leg, even with the boot strapped to it.

“Okay so maybe I’m not as fine as I thought.” He mumbled through gritted teeth.

As he made his way downstairs, he wished he could just go back to bed. His body protested at the movements his brain was forcing him to make, longing to just collapse on his bed. But he couldn’t. He had to find Tony and Pepper and work out what to do now that it was no longer safe for him to be in their home. So, through sheer force of will, he limped his way downstairs. He used the wall as support but he still felt like he could pass out from the pain.

Tony and Pepper were on the sofa when he finally made it down the stairs. They didn’t notice him at first; their backs were turned away from him. It was only when Peter stepped off the stairs and the floorboard creaked that Tony turned around and saw him.

“Peter?” He asked, rushing round to help him, “What on earth are you doing downstairs you should be in bed.”

“Remembered- what- Riva said,” Peter replied breathlessly, “Needed to- work out- what- to do- now.”

Tony supported him to the sofa and lowered him down so he was sat next to Pepper before sitting down on his other side. Peter closed his eyes, waiting for the dizziness to subside.

“What about what he said?” Pepper asked, placing a hand on his arm, moving it softly up and down his arm in a nurturing way.

“He knows you’re alive and you’re here. He’s going to try and hurt you, hurt all of you. It’s not safe for you anymore; I’ve put you all in danger.”

“Peter, honey, it’s okay,” Pepper said, continuing to move her hand along his arm in a comforting motion.

“Peter,” Tony said, looking at him directly in the eye, “No one is going to hurt us here.”

“But –“

“No buts,” Tony cut over him, “You forget that out of the four people currently living in this house, three of them have suits made by either yours truly or my protégée which gives them the means to easily defend themselves from anyone, especially from some wannabe me’s illusion tech which I am well experienced with. And when it comes to Morgan, I’ve had emergency plans in place since the moment she was born. If the need ever arises, she can get to safety easily. Now I know what you’re thinking and the only thing that I can say to it is that you are not going anywhere. And that is final.”

“But it’s still not safe though, he could easily attack again.” Peter tried to reason with him.

“Listen, we had a feeling something like this could happen, especially after he ambushed you in the woods. We spoke to Rhodey and Happy and upped the security around here. This is still the safest place to be.” Pepper said.

Peter sighed and leaned his head against her shoulder; she ran her hand through his hair. Peter was grateful for the comfort.

“What about what happened in Queens though? I’ve probably not done myself any favours because Beck probably used my presence in Queens at the same time as the ‘attack’ as evidence for my involvement in it. So now I’ve made things so much worse for myself for nothing.” He whispered, a tear rolling down his face.

“It wasn’t for nothing,” Tony said, smiling at him.

“What?” Peter asked.

Tony reached into his pocket and pulled out a memory stick. Peter’s eyes widened.

“We got the data?” He asked.

“We got the data,” Tony laughed, “They planned for you to be along so Ned was easily able to make copied of all the data without detection.”

Peter gave out a weak laugh. Finally, he had something to work with. After weeks of nothing, he finally had the upper hand over Mysterio. Finally, he had something he could use to find a way to get his life back. Peter was relieved, this was the lightest that he had felt in weeks.

The two adults in the room could sense his joy, and they too joined in his laughter. Eventually, the laughter faded and they all drifted off into sleep, still on the sofa.


	17. Onto Something

When Peter woke up, he found that he was still leaning against Pepper’s shoulder and his legs were stretched across Tony’s. Both of them were still asleep. Sunlight crept through the gap between the curtains, casting the room in a gentle glow, gentle birdsong welcomed in the new morning. Had they really been there all night? Peter felt slightly guilty looking at them, that couldn’t have been comfortable for either of them.

He let out a long yawn, wondering whether he’d be able to make it to the kitchen to find some food without nearly collapsing, again. However, his movement caused Pepper to stir and slowly, her eyes blinked open.

“Peter?” How are you feeling?” She whispered.

“Better I think,” He replied, “I was just going to get something to eat.”

“I’ll go make breakfast for everyone. You stay here, you need as much rest as you can get,” she said, “Besides, I think this is one of the best night’s sleep Tony has had in months, I want this to last for as long as humanly possible.”

They looked over at Tony and, sure enough, he was still fast asleep. His chin was resting on his hand; the other had fallen over Peter’s legs. His chest was rising and falling gently. He looked so peaceful like that, more at peace than Peter had ever seen him.

Slowly, Pepper eased her way into a standing position then walked over to the kitchen. Peter and Tony were left on the sofa. Peter’s eyes began to droop, but the smell of eggs frying in the kitchen stopped him from falling asleep again.

It was several minutes before Tony woke up. He yawned as his eyes began to prize their way open. He moved his neck from side to side, clearly stiff after spending the night half sat up on the sofa. He looked around the living room for a few moments, confused about why he had slept on the sofa rather than in his own bed. His memory returned to him when he saw Peter lying across the couch. 

“Hey kid,” he said, smiling down at Peter.

“Hey,” Peter replied.

“We have a lot of work to do today,” Tony said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the flash drive with all of the data that Ned had collected on it.

“How are we going to look at it though?” Peter asked, “There are no computers here.”

“I have my methods,” Tony smirked.

“If your methods include Happy giving you a laptop that’s not connected to any external networks that you could use to look at them,” Pepper said as she went upstairs to wake Morgan up.

“Don’t give away all my secrets!” He said as he turned to look at his wife go upstairs with a look of fake annoyance.

Gradually, Peter swung his legs around so that he was sitting on the sofa normally. Unlike last night, where similar movements created a strong surge of pain, Peter only felt a slight ache in his leg and abdomen. Then, taking care not to stand up too quickly, he rose to his feet. Tony stood up to support Peter as he hobbled towards the table. He was still a little unsteady on his feet but his spider healing seemed to have done its job overnight.

Tony helped Peter into a chair before moving to sit in the chair opposite him. They were just about to start discussing plans when Pepper brought Morgan downstairs. So instead, they all sat down to breakfast together, any plans being pushed aside for the time being.

After they’d finished eating, Peter quickly stood up, forgetting about his injured leg. Consequently, he lost balance and almost toppled over if he hadn’t caught himself on the table, causing Morgan to giggle.

“Careful,” Tony said, “We have a pair of crutches upstairs; you can use them until your leg has healed completely. That way you won’t cause yourself any more injuries.”

“Is that really necessary?” Peter groaned.

“Yes.” Tony and Pepper both replied.

Once Tony had fetched the crutches for him, Peter was able to slowly make his way to the garage. It was a struggle, especially with the uneven ground, but he made it eventually.

Tony goes over to one of the workbenches and pulled a laptop out of one of the drawers while Peter clambers onto a stool. Once the laptop has turned on, Tony pulls out the flash drive and plugs it in. What seems like an endless number of files appears on the screen. Lots of them, such as files full of recipes, were useless to them but some of them had a lot more value to them. They found a list of all of the individuals working under Mysterio, as well as multiple files full of information on all of the Avengers. None of it was enough to fully clear Peter’s name though. Enough to cast some doubt onto Mysterio’s story, yes, but none of it was concrete evidence that Peter was innocent.

Finally, after hours of going through these files, they came to an encrypted file that required a password to get into.

“This is going to take a few hours for me to hack into,” Tony said.

“Just try ‘password’,” Peter said, holding the suspicion that Riva wasn’t very clever with his passwords.

Sure enough, when Tony typed it in, the file opened.

“I told Happy that ‘password’ was not a good password.” Peter murmured.

Tony almost choked on his drink, “Wait, wait. You’re telling me that Happy’s password is ‘password’?”

Peter nodded and they both started laughing.

“I really need to talk to him about security with phone passwords.” Tony laughed.

When their laughter had subsided, they returned to investigating the file. It only contained two video files: ‘OperationSpideyTakedown1’ and ‘OperationSpideyTakedown2’. The first video was the same video that had been released by the DailyBugle.net but the second video was the needle in the haystack that they were looking for. The second video was the original, unedited recording of Peter on Tower Bridge. Here it was. Proof that Peter was innocent.

“I think we’re onto something, Pete,” Tony whispered.

“I think so too,” Peter whispered back. Peter thought he could cry from the relief that he felt. After weeks of nothing, this was the closest that they had been to achieving what they wanted. They still needed to find a way to use what they had, it wasn’t as simple as just releasing the video, he still needed to catch Mysterio and take him down. But now they could actually start to form a plan. 

Forming a plan, they soon discovered, was a lot harder than they anticipated. They decided that the best way to take Mysterio down was tracking him down and catching him, releasing the video while he was being taken down to remove any leg that Mysterio could potentially stand on. The difficult part was that they didn’t have a clue as to where Mysterio was. Sure, his tech had been used in New York but that didn’t necessarily mean that Mysterio was also in New York. They had no way of actually tracking him down and they couldn’t put out the fire without knowing where the fire was in the first place.

Peter ran a hand through in his hair; they were going round in circles trying to find a way to track him down. It was useless. They couldn’t make any progress until they had found a way to track him down.

“You seem to be thinking rather loudly over there,” Tony said, not looking up from a file on the laptop that he was examining. 

“We’re not getting anywhere, it just feels useless.” Peter sighed.

“At the moment, no we’re not. But we will. It’s just going to take some time to process everything we’ve got and find a way to move forward.” Tony said, turning to look at Peter.

Peter nodded, “It’s just frustrating.”

Tony opened his mouth to say something but a little knock of the door distracted him. Confused, he instead turned to look at the door, wondering what the knock at the door was.

“Daddy, let me in! I know you and Petey are in there!” A small voice called from the other side of the door. Tony turned to look at Peter with an exasperated look before standing to open the door. Sure enough, the second he opened the door, a small figure darted past him and climbed onto Peter’s knee.

“Oh, I see I’ve been replaced in my daughter’s affections,” Tony said, pretending to sound offended.

“Petey was hurt. He needs hugs to make him feel better.” She retorted, seeing through Tony’s act.

Nonetheless, Tony continued with his act, “Well, I see where I’m not wanted. I guess I’ll just go then.” He smirked before leaving the room, leaving Peter and Morgan alone.

“He’s silly.” She giggled.

“Yeah, he is. So is there anything you want to do?”

“Can we play on a trampoline?” She asked.

“There isn’t a trampoline here Morgan.”

“I know,” Her eyes were sparkling with mischief, “But that doesn’t mean that we can’t make one.”

Peter didn’t understand what Morgan was getting at. Morgan rolled her eyes, mocking Peter’s slowness to understand what she wanted to do.

“Your spidey webs.” She said, slowly, allowing Peter to comprehend what she was trying to say.

“You want me to make a trampoline, with my web-shooters?” He asked, finally understanding.

Morgan giggled, “Won’t it be fun?”

Peter sighed, understanding that Morgan was going to get her trampoline. “I’ll see what I can do.”

As he was going inside to find his web-shooters, Peter noticed that the pain in his leg had practically gone and he could walk on it with almost no trouble. _Good, at least I don’t have to use the crutches anymore. That’ll make it easier to make the trampoline_. Tony and Pepper were nowhere in sight, which Peter thought was odd. However, when he came back downstairs, he saw a note on the kitchen counter in Tony’s handwriting: ‘Gone on a walk, you’re in charge of Morgan. Don’t break anything. Tony.’

Creating the trampoline wasn’t as complicated as he had thought. Once he’d selected the right kind of webbing, it didn’t take long to work out the angles that he needed to attach the webs to the trees. Soon enough, Morgan was delightedly bouncing up and down on her very own trampoline. It would probably dissolve after a few hours, but Peter was glad to see Morgan getting some use out of it while it lasted.

“Thank you, Petey, this is so much fun! Why didn’t we do this earlier?” Morgan called to Peter between her elated cries of laughter. Peter delighted in watching her play, her child-like enthusiasm for everything was the perfect distraction from the stress he was feeling.

He didn’t find it as fun, however, when Morgan lost her balance after a round of jumps and went flying towards the ground.

“Morgan!” Peter yelled, his heart flying to his mouth. He darted towards the trampoline to catch her before she hit the ground. He caught her easily enough, with his powers and reflexes as good as they were. Morgan giggled as Peter gently set her on the ground.

“Okay, I think that’s enough bouncing on the trampoline for now,” Peter said slowly, trying to calm down from the panic he’d just felt, “Why don’t we go find some juice pops then come back out and sit on the trampoline and I tell you about the time where your dad decided to initiate a full-blown prank war against me?”

“Okay!” Morgan said, running off towards the house with Peter following behind in her stead.

“What do you think will happen when all of this is over?” Pepper asked her husband as they walked along the edge of the lake.

“He’ll go back to Queens and do his senior year I guess,” Tony replied. He’d filled Pepper in on what he and Peter had discovered earlier. Now they were discussing how they were going to move forward once they’d worked out a plan and taken down Mysterio.

Pepper sighed, “It’ll be weird not having him around all the time. I know Morgan’s loved finally getting to spend some time with him.”

“Yeah,” Tony mumbled in response. To be completely honest, Tony didn’t want to think about what would happen when Peter inevitably returned to Queens. Deep down, there was a selfish part of him that didn’t want Peter to leave. But he knew that couldn’t happen. Peter needed to go back to school and his life while readjusting to life as a publically known superhero and he just couldn’t do that here.

“He’s been good for you too. Don’t think I haven’t noticed that you’re sleeping better and you aren’t wincing in pain as much since he’s been around.”

Tony sighed, not even trying to deny it. Having Peter around seemed to put his mind at rest, and consequently, at night his mind wasn’t fighting him to stay awake as much. The flashbacks weren’t as often, the nightmares weren’t as intense. This, in turn, meant that his body didn’t have to protest at the lack of sleep.

“Who knows,” he said, changing the subject, “maybe we’ll be able to work something out with May so we can see him more regularly.

“Yeah, that would be good.” Pepper continued, “Otherwise I’ll miss being able to see things like that every day too much.”

She had stopped walking and was looking over towards the woods. When Tony turned to see what he was looking at, he saw that Peter had decided to make some new toys for Morgan out of his webbing. On the makeshift trampoline that Peter had made, both his kids were sound asleep, with Peter having wrapped a protective arm around Morgan. Tony smiled at the scene, glad that his two kids had bonded so easily over the summer.

Not wanting to disturb the moment, Tony and Pepper decided not to wake them until after they’d finished preparing dinner for them.


	18. Hit by a Train

“Peter, would you come out here for a second?” Tony called before turning back to his companions, “I don’t need to call that loudly; he’ll be able to hear me with his enhanced senses.”

His companions shared a look, one of amusement at Tony picking up the mantle of Peter’s father figure so easily after so long.

“So,” Pepper said, “What brings you two here? Have there been any developments in finding out who could be after Tony?”

Before either of their two companions could answer, Peter came out onto the patio. He was looking down at some papers, not paying attention to who was with Tony.

“Tony, what’s this about? I just thought of an idea for-“ When he noticed who was sat with Pepper and Tony, his mouth dropped open and he let go of the papers he was holding onto so they floated down to the floor. Although he’d fought alongside both men on multiple occasions, Peter was still star-struck by the two Avengers sat in front of him.

“Dr Banner, Colonel Rhodes, hi. What- what are you doing here?” He stammered. Tony laughed, reminded of his first meeting with Peter.

“How many times do we have to tell you that it’s Rhodey and Bruce kid?” Rhodey asked, standing up to shake Peter’s hand, which Peter took enthusiastically. Peter then moved to shake Bruce’s hand, although, with the size difference in their hands, Peter was dwarfed by him.

“It’s good to see you again Peter,” Bruce said, “You’re looking well, considering everything that’s been going on.”

“Uh, thank you Dr. Ban- Bruce,” Peter, said, sitting down next to Tony, “We’re working on it though.”

“Well the Avengers are on your side, we want you to know that. And, we, the Avengers that is, would be willing to release a statement supporting you once this is all over or even sooner if you need us to. Whatever you need from us, we’ll be willing to help you.” Rhodey said, looking Peter directly in the eye.

“Th- thank you,” Peter replied, breaking his eye contact with Rhodey. He was genuinely touched by the gesture. He was grateful that his team members were willing to stand up for him after everything that’s happened. Part of him wouldn’t have been surprised if they had wanted to distance themselves from Peter to cover their asses. After all, they wouldn’t want another Sokovia Accords situation.

Tony, sensing his emotion, put a reassuring hand on Peter’s shoulder.

Rhodey smirked at the gesture, not in a mocking way, but in a way to communicate that he was glad Peter was back in his best friend’s life. “Maybe Uncle Rhodey will be a more fitting name for you to call me, considering Tony’s parental care of you,” he joked.

Peter felt his ears grow warm and he looked away from Rhodey and Bruce and down at the floor. Tony, on the other hand, laughed off his best friend’s comment.

“Anyway,” Tony said with a fake indignance, “You were about to tell us why you had graced us with your presence on this fine afternoon.”

Rhodey’s face suddenly became more serious, “Well, we’re here because we have more information on who’s after you.”

Tony’s face fell, “Kid, go inside.” He said flatly.

“But-“Peter began to protest.

“No,” Tony cut across him, “I don’t want you to hear this. Not when you’ve got other things to worry about.”

Rolling his eyes, Peter reluctantly stood up and went inside. _He does realise that I’m going to be able to hear it whether I’m sat with them or not? _ Sure enough, when he reached his room, Peter could still easily hear the adult’s conversation outside. So naturally, Peter sat down by his open window so he could eavesdrop on their conversation with the most ease.

“But let’s face it; this guy has no serious credibility,” Tony said.

“We should still take him seriously,” Pepper replied, “Look at the damage he’s already created.”

“Pepper’s right Tones. We should consider him a serious threat.”

“He also has the public behind him. He’s gotten people to believe exactly what he wants them to believe.” Bruce added.

“Yes but anyone with even the slightest bit of common sense or access to the right information will realise that he was fired from Stark Industries because he wanted to use the tech he helped me with to create more death and suffering. The guy is deranged and he basically lives in the illusions that he creates.”

“Yes, but he has the ability and he has the motivation, no matter how deranged he is,“ Bruce tried to reason with Tony, “We need to accept the probability of the fact that at some point Beck is going to come after you and the Avengers. Probably sooner rather than later.”

Peter’s heart flew into his mouth. He was right. Mysterio was after Tony. They kinda already knew this was the case but to get a confirmation like this; it made it feel all the more real.

This had gone on long enough. It had to end. Mysterio had had his fun but now that fun was about to end. Peter wasn’t going to let Tony get hurt because he had given a practical stranger too much power.

Tony couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How had this guy gotten so much power? He was a former Stark Industries employer, not a very good one at that, who was fired because of his dangerous ideas for the B.A.R.F technology which he claimed to have created solely on his own. And now he was listening to his two friends telling him about how this guy was a serious threat to him. Sure, he’d done a large amount of damage to Peter and his reputation but now he and Peter were almost ready to take him down. He couldn’t be that serious a threat, could he?

Suddenly, he heard the door on the other side of the house slam. Peter. Of course, he would have heard everything that had just been saying. Just a few minutes ago he had been talking about how the kid could hear him easily with his enhanced hearing. How had he forgotten? He’d been forced out of the conversation so of course, he would have gone somewhere to eavesdrop. And now, what he’d heard had probably triggered him again. Peter wouldn’t be able to deal with the idea that he had potentially put Tony or anyone else in danger, which wasn’t true. Why hadn’t Tony foreseen that?

Sighing, he rose to his feet. When Pepper, Rhodey and Bruce all looked at him quizzically he simply explained, “We forgot about the enhanced hearing.”

Then, he turned and walked towards the garage, where he’d guessed Peter would have gone to. Sure enough, Peter was inside, looking through pages of notes almost frantically. His breathing was quickening and was slightly laboured. From the door, Tony could see Peter’s hands shaking, causing the papers he was holding to shake even more violently than his hands. He hated, no, loathed seeing his kid like this. He wished that Peter didn’t have to suffer this way, wished that he could take the weight of Peter’s suffering off Peter’s shoulders and onto his own. He would do anything, _anything_, to see Peter’s pain lessen.

Peter didn’t notice Tony enter the garage. He was too deep into his panicked state to fully register anything about his surroundings, even the papers that he was holding. When Tony reached him, he gently placed a hand on his shoulder, not wanting to alarm him.

“Peter,” Tony said gently. 

“I’ve got to stop this. This has gone on for too long. He needs to be taken down. He can’t hurt anyone else.” Peter said only half registering Tony’s presence.

“He’s not going to hurt anyone else.”

“You heard what Dr Banner and Colonel Rhodes said. He’s a ‘serious threat’. If I wait any longer to act, someone else could have a building fall on top of them or get hit by a train or-“

Tony almost choked, “Wait, you got hit by a train!”

Peter nodded frantically, still panicking. Tony felt sick at the thought of Peter getting hit by a train. What else didn’t Happy and MJ tell him about their European adventure? Come to think of it, he had never spoken to Peter in-depth about what had happened in Europe. Whenever the topic came up, Peter had just dodged any question and changed the topic as quickly as possible. He was becoming a master of deflection, probably picked it up from Tony himself.

Tony used his other hand to take hold of the papers Peter was currently holding and prized them out of his hand. “Kid I think it’s time you told me everything that happened in Europe.”

“You know what happened.”

“I only know what Happy and MJ told me. And they only knew parts of it themselves. It’s time _you_ tell us what happened.”

Tony could see the debate going through Peter’s mind. He was holding back from telling him what really happened with Mysterio. He didn’t want to relive the memories of what happened. Tony understood perfectly what that meant, he used to try and avoid reliving his past with everything inch of effort he had. But he didn’t want Peter to make the same mistakes.

“I promise you it will feel better if you tell us, especially the part where you got hit by a train.”

Peter paused and, after a long moment, he nodded. So, they both walked back to the house where they sat down with Pepper, Rhodey and Bruce. Peter looked like he would rather be anywhere else, his shoulders were hunched and he was looking down at the floor. Tony put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, which seemed to make Peter relax a little.

“We decided that it was the time that someone was a little more open about their time in Europe,” Tony explained.

So, they all sat and listened to Peter explain what had happened exactly between him and Mysterio, no interruptions. Well, Tony was very tempted to say something when Peter explained how he had gotten hit by a train in Germany but Pepper gave him a very pointed look when he opened his mouth to say something so he promptly shut his mouth and continued to listen.

When he was finished, Tony stood up and started pacing around on the patio. Mysterio was there, right in their grasp, Peter’s story would provide the missing piece in the puzzle that would get Peter his life back.

“Tony?” Rhodey asked.

“I have a plan, or at least the beginnings of one.”

“What is it?” Peter asked, finally looking up from the floor.

“We need to lure him out of the shadows; we need him to come to us. We’ll never get anywhere if we wait for him to come out of the shadows on his own accord. It won’t ever happen. People think that he’s dead and Peter killed him, he has the upper hand, he’s not going to give that up.”

“Yes,” Pepper said, “But how do we do that?”

“He wants the people to see him as the hero and Peter as the villain so he can be seen as ‘the next Iron Man’, which by the way, is not possible, I am the only Iron Man. Like, I said ‘I am Iron Man’ not ‘I am an Iron Man’ to imply there could be more-“

“Tony.” Pepper cut him off.

“Sorry, getting off-topic a little. Anyway, my point is that we need to try and attack the persona he’s gotten the people to believe. If we attack that persona, then he’s going to come out of the shadows to try and protect it.”

“But how?” Peter asked.

“The answer was mentioned before.”

Rhodey and Bruce shared a look. “The statement we suggested?” Bruce said.

“Yes!” Tony exclaimed, “That is exactly what I’m talking about.”

“Is that really going to work though?” Pepper asked sceptically.

“Yes because it sounds like this guy has a huge ego and if that ego is threatened, then he’ll act out to protect it.”

“Sounds like someone else we know,” Rhodey said under his breath, causing Tony to glare at him.

“Anyway,” Tony said turning back to look at Peter, “Are you with me on this kid?”

Peter broke into a smile which slowly transitioned into laughter which changed into hysteria. Finally. Finally. He had a way to get his life back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today, instead of what I normally put in these notes, I wanted to reflect upon the current social and political climate. The systemic racism and bigotry that exists across the world which resulted in the deaths of George Floyd among countless others has gone on for too long. It is only through educating ourselves and gaining an increased awareness of how racism and privilege work that we can hope for and create change. Equality and justice is something that black people have been deprived of because the society that they live in does not allow this to occur. This is a human right issue and it needs to change. I've attached a link to a really great resource for providing links to petitions and places to donate that I ask for you to consider. So please, join the fight to try and achieve equality for all. 
> 
> https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/


	19. Photographs

When his alarm went off, Peter groaned and turned over, attempting to block the sound out by pressing his pillow to his ear. _Please, just five more minutes. _But seconds later, the door creaked open and Peter heard footsteps before small hands were shaking his shoulders, trying to wake him up. Clearly going back to sleep wasn’t going to be an option for him today.

“Petey! Guess what day it is!” Morgan exclaimed.

Peter groaned, “Ummmm, Saturday?”

“It’s your birthday!”

Peter blinked his eyes open then looked at the date on his clock. Sure enough, the clock said that the date was August 10th, his seventeenth birthday. He’d been so preoccupied with fine-tuning his and Tony’s plan that he hadn’t realised that his birthday was coming up.

“Daddy says that he has a surprise for you, but you can’t get it until later.” She smiled.

He raised an eyebrow, “Any clue as to what that surprise is?”

Morgan raised her hand to her mouth and mimed zipping her lips, refusing to reveal anything to him.

“Well, I guess I’ll just have to wait then” Peter sighed before climbing out of bed. He looked at his clock, 7:30. Birthday or not, he really could’ve done with the extra time in bed.

When he followed Morgan downstairs, he found that the dining room had been decorated for the occasion. The chair at the head at the table had balloons tied to it and a small pile of presents rested on the table. Tony was already waiting at the table for him, slowly sipping his coffee.

“Happy birthday, Underoos.” Tony smiled, putting his coffee down and turned to smile at him.

“You didn’t have to do this,” Peter said, sitting down at the table next to Tony.

“No, I didn’t, I wanted to. It’s not every day where my favourite spider-kid turns 17, even though it’s been delayed by over five years.”

“Petey, we made you special birthday pancakes!” Morgan came back to the table, Pepper following behind closely behind her, carrying a stack of pancakes. A small mountain of whipped cream rested on top of the stack, fenced in by a circle of berries.

“Happy birthday, Peter!” Pepper said, kissing him on the top of his head.

“Thank you.” Peter smiled at her.

“How come I didn’t get this treatment on my birthday?” Tony asked.

“Because you’ve had thirty-seven more birthdays than me,” Peter retorted. Tony looked seriously affronted.

“Yeah, we all got kinda bored of your birthdays, especially after the birthday where you got incredibly drunk then ended up fighting Rhodey whilst you were both wearing your suits,” Pepper added. Tony just stared at them both.

“Is this a new thing now? Where you both team up to torment me?”

Instead of answering, Peter just laughed and started eating his pancakes. Tony just rolled his eyes then started eating his own, not special, pancakes. Once they’d all eaten, their attention turned to the small pile of presents on the table. They were all immaculately wrapped, apart from the one on the top of the pile, which was wrapped a little haphazardly, and covered in pink glitter. That one had all the signs of Morgan deciding to wrap her present herself.

“Open mine first Petey!” Morgan said, pointing to the one on top of the pile. Peter picked that one up and tore the package open, his hands getting coated in pink glitter during the process. The present was a book on spiders.

“So you can get more inspiration for suits and web designs. But that’s not the best part, look in the front cover.” 

Following her request, Peter opened the front cover and a piece of paper fell out. Picking it up off the floor, Peter saw that it was a drawing, made out of crayon, of him swinging through the streets of New York as Spider-Man. Only this time, a small figure was swinging right alongside him.

“That’s us when we’re swinging through New York together when you go back to being Spider-Man.” She explained, causing Tony to choke on his coffee. Clearly, she had failed to tell Tony her plans to go web-slinging with Peter.

“Thanks, Morgan, but maybe we should wait until you’re older to join me on patrol.” Tony gave Peter a warning look, warning him not to encourage her.

“Anyway,” Pepper said, stepping in to prevent even more of Tony’s hairs turning grey, “Why don’t you open the next present Peter?”

Slowly, Peter worked through the pile of presents. Pepper had gotten him some books on science and some more science pun T-shirts. That left Tony’s presents. The first present was a pair of sunglasses, black with red spider webs etched on the glasses arms.

“They’re made with the same tech as the eyepieces on your mask so you can stop getting overwhelmed by the light without putting your mask on. ” Tony explained.

When Peter opened the second one, he found that it was a new Spider-Man suit. But it wasn’t the one that they were working on together.

“I made that one for you around four years ago, it was a plan that I’d come up with just before Thanos. I made it whilst in a pit of denial, hoping that you would come back. I figured it was about time that I give it to you.”

Peter looked at him, speechless. Tony never ceased to amaze him sometimes.

“What are you looking at me like that for? You still have one last present.”

He tore open the last present; it was a photo frame, with an inscription on the back.

_If you ever forget the reason why you’re a hero._

He turned the frame around; it was the photo that normally sat on the shelf by the kitchen sink. Or at least, it was a copy of it. The frame was the same design of the Iron Spider suit, metallic red and gold gleaming in the light falling onto it, gold accents separating the red and the blue_._

“Tony,” Peter whispered, “Thank you.”

Tony replied, sounding hoarse, “Anything for you Underoos. Now go and get changed, your surprise should be getting here soon.

When Peter came back downstairs after getting changed, he was surprised to hear cars pulling up outside the house. Going outside to investigate, he saw two cars pulling up to the house. In the first car were Bruce and Rhodey, who had decided to come to help celebrate, much to Peter’s surprise.

“That’s not the only surprise, kid,” Tony said, walking up to stand behind him.

Peter looked at him, confused. Only his questions were answered when four people climbed out of the second car and oh God, Peter was so happy to see who it was. When she saw him standing at the top of the steps, she simply opened her arms and Peter ran right past Ned, MJ and Happy and embraced her in a hug. Neither of them said anything, they just held each other like a mother and a son would.

Eventually, they pulled away from one another, and May beckoned to Peter to greet the others. Turning to face Ned and MJ, he was not surprised at all to see Ned staring at the Bruce and Rhodey, looking even more star-struck than he did when he first met Tony. His mouth was hanging slightly open and he’d dropped the present bag that he was holding onto the ground. MJ, on the other hand, was standing next to the car, awkwardly trying to avoid eye contact with Morgan, probably wanting to avoid being hugged by her or something. Laughing, Peter walked over to them both, first kissing MJ and then managing to get Ned’s attention for long enough to do their handshake.

After greeting his friend, he walked over to Tony, who was speaking with Rhodey over by the house. When Tony saw him walking over, he smirked.

“So, did you like your surprise?”

“Thank you so much, Tony, you didn’t have to go to all this trouble but it means so much that everyone’s here. And thank you Mr. Rhodey, you really didn’t have to come.”

“It was no trouble kid, I’m happy to be here to celebrate with you.” Rhodey smiled.

Peter turned and saw that May was stood on the jetty looking out at the lake. The late morning sunlight reflected off of the water’s surface, making the water almost glow whilst it basked under the sunlight. Ordinarily, the brightness would’ve overwhelmed Peter but with the sunglasses, Tony had given him, the light became bearable for Peter so for once, he was able to truly enjoy the glorious weather while it lasted.

He walked over, and stood beside her, looking out at the lake.

“He would have loved this you know,” May said casually.

“Who?” Peter asked.

“Ben.” May replied, turning to look at him, “He would have loved seeing the person you’ve become. He would’ve been proud.”

Peter stared at her blankly, unsure of how to respond. They rarely spoke of Ben, before the Snap, they were beginning to speak of him more. But after they assumed Tony to be dead for eight months, they treaded around talking about him as if both he and Tony were sat on eggshells that would shatter whenever they even came close to the subject.

“When I first found out you were Spider-Man, I wasn’t too happy about you putting yourself in the front line regularly.”

“But, didn’t you make me go to the roof and start shooting paintballs at me to test my reflexes?”

“Well, yes,” May considered, “But that still doesn’t mean that I was thrilled with the idea of you as a superhero. You were fifteen years old, and rather than doing normal extracurricular activities, you were swinging around Queens as a masked vigilante. I was scared. I was scared of you getting hurt and I was scared of you growing up too fast. And not to mention the fact that you had lied to me for a little under a year.”

“I had to,” Peter sighed, “I couldn’t tell anyone. If anyone was put in danger because of knowing who I was, I wouldn’t have ever forgiven myself. Besides, we had just lost Ben; I couldn’t put you through that as well.”

May’s eyes filled with tears, “I should’ve been there for you more after Ben.”

“You were grieving.”

“So were you, but you were a fourteen-year kid, and for weeks I just was consumed by my grief. You needed me and I couldn’t function and I wasn’t there for you. And for that I’m-“

“You don’t need to apologise,” Peter cut her off, “It was in the past. And besides, I had Spider-Man. When things got too hard, I could just go web-slinging and everything would feel just a little bit easier. And eventually, the pain lessened and things turned back to being somewhat normal.”

“Somewhat?”

“Well things were never going to be exactly the same without Ben; he was a huge part of our lives. And I changed. Spider-Man changed things for the better. He made me better.”

“But some things haven’t changed for the better.”

“What do you mean?”

“The nightmares. The anxiety. The panic attacks. I’ve been through the last eight months right alongside you. I don’t know what happened on Titan or what happened when we came back but I was there for the aftermath. I saw the suffering that you went through and part of me feels that without Spider-Man, you wouldn’t have been through so much.”

Peter sighed; he knew that without Spider-Man, so many of the traumas that he’d experienced may never have happened. He wouldn’t have gotten trapped under that building by the Vulture, he wouldn’t have ever been to Titan and he wouldn’t have been forced to live through those illusions. Without Spider-Man, he would have never been in the situation is that he was in now. He thought about those things, but those things didn’t mean he wanted to stop being Spider-Man.

“I understand what you mean May, I really do. Yeah, without Spider-Man I would have never been through some of the things I’ve been through. But I also know that what I’ve found since the spider bite is worth all of that and more. Also, who knows what else could have happened even without Spider-Man. The Parker luck would have just found another way to bite me. All the anxiety is just the price that I’m willing to pay because what I’ve found is so much better than that.”

“I suppose you have found something that’s pretty good. When Ben died, I didn’t think you’d have another father figure in your life and that made me feel guilty because you needed someone in that role and I knew that no matter how hard I tried, that person could never be me. But when Tony Stark knocked on our door, part of me knew that there was a chance that he could be that person for you, as much as I hated the idea of it being him.”

“It took a while though,” Peter said.

“Yes,” May said, “But he came through eventually. And thank god he did. Without Tony, you would have been in an even worse predicament. He gave you sanctuary and the help you needed to try and find a way to put your life back together. And, for that, I’ll be grateful to him forever.”

Peter closed his eyes; he didn’t want to think about what would’ve happened if Tony hadn’t found him on Governors’ Island.

“I want you to know that he won’t ever replace Ben, I don’t think anyone could replace Ben. But I think he took a different place in my life. And I think that I took a place in his life that not even Morgan could replace.”

May smiled, “I think you’re right.”

She pulled a present out of her bag and passed it to Peter. He opened it, and eight faced smiled back at him. There were three photos all framed. The first was one of a baby Peter smiling back at the camera, in the arms of a man, his father, sat next to a woman, his mother. The second was of Peter from when he was about nine, stood between May and Ben. This one was taken before the Stark Expo, he’d been so excited to be able to go, Ben and May had struggled to keep him still for long enough to take the photo. The third was taken a few months after the Homecoming incident and it was of him and Tony in the lab. It was the first time Tony had let him help with the Iron Man suit, and they both had huge smiles on her face after Peter had successfully been able to programme something.

“It’s not much,” May explained, “I just wanted you to always have a reminder of the family you had, and the family you have now.”

Peter looked at her and smiled, “I also don’t want you to ever think that Tony, or Pepper, or anyone else could ever replace you. You took me in after my parents died and you raised me. You are the closest thing I’ve ever had to a mum and I’m glad that you have that position in my life.”

May’s eyes welled up with Peter’s words. Instead of saying anything, she just rested her head upon Peter’s shoulder, and Peter rested his head on top of hers. They stood there for a while, watching the light dance around on the lake surface.

Eventually, Peter spoke, “You know, our lives are never going to be the same again. Do you think we can handle that?”

“Well,” May replied, “I don’t know how our lives are going to pan out after this but I know that whatever comes, we’ll face it together. We’re a team you and I, and that’s not going to change.”

They continued to sit on the jetty for a while longer, glad to be in each other’s company.

“Petey!” A voice called from the bank of the lake. They turned around and, sure enough, Morgan was there, waving him over with one hand. Her other hand was holding onto MJ, who in the time since she’d last visited hadn’t gotten any more comfortable with small children.

“Duty calls,” he smirked, before standing and walking over to MJ and Morgan.

“Ned is too busy fangirling over Rhodey and Bruce to help me entertain Morgan, please help,” MJ said.

Peter just looked at MJ struggling over how to handle a five-year-old child and then over to Ned staring at the Tony, Rhodey and Bruce with his mouth slightly agape. Shaking his head and laughing at his friends, he took hold of Morgan’s hand and led her towards the trees. There, he made Morgan another trampoline, although this one was slightly more refined than the one that he’d made previously. Naturally, Morgan delighted in his creation and did not hesitate to start playing upon the trampoline. Instead of joining her on the trampoline, Peter opted to watch her from the ground with MJ, who’d visibly relaxed since Morgan had left her side.

“You know, she’s not going to bite you.” He laughed.

“Oh shut up.” MJ replied, “She’d just so energetic and loud. I don’t do energetic or loud. And at least I’m not letting flies fly into my mouth like Ned over there.”

They looked over at Ned, and after seeing their friend, his face unchanged from the last time they’d checked in him, they snorted into laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation.

“I think someone had better go and rescue him.” Peter laughed.

He began to walk over to where Ned was standing, but before he reached his friend, May and Pepper came back outside holding a large cake. They placed it on the table on the patio, and Peter went over to admire it. On the top of the cake, the New York City skyline was iced onto it, with a miniature version of him slinging through the buildings.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on the back of his neck which forced his head forward and into the cake. As soon as his face made contact with the cake, he could hear someone erupt into laughter.

“Tony!” A voice scolded.

“I’m sorry,” Tony laughed through the laughter, “But I- But I just couldn’t resist.”

Peter slowly straightened up away from the cake and wiped the cream away from his eyes. Saying nothing, he turned around, only to see Tony, bent over from the laughter. When Tony saw Peter’s face coated in the icing, he only laughed even more. Slowly, Peter reached down and grabbed a handful of the now ruined cake and held it up, aiming it at Tony. However, Tony saw Peter’s intended counter attack so that when Peter threw the cake, he was able to duck behind Pepper so that the handful of cake hit Pepper instead.

“Oh my god,” Peter said, “I’m so- so sorry”

Pepper said nothing. Instead, she slowly moved towards Peter, trying to remove some of the cake from her face in the meantime. Peter cowered away, worried about what she was going to do, even though his spidey sense wasn’t flaring up. She walked past Peter and took another handful of cake. Realising what she was about to do, Peter was successfully able to dive behind Happy so that the cake hit him instead.

Then, chaos ensued. With everyone scrambling to the cake to try and hit each other with a handful of cake, no one was safe from being hit with the cake. Peter was able to hit Ned, Rhodey and May while he was then hit by Tony, MJ and Ned.

When the cake eventually ran out, everyone was practically rolling on the floor in fits of laughter. Most of them looked like they could barely breathe. Peter looked around at his companions and realised something that he hadn’t expected. He realised that when he returned to Queens, he would actually miss being here. The whole time he’d been here, he’d been so focussed on trying to get home to Queens that he’d never stopped to consider what he’d actually found while being here. He would miss spending time playing with Morgan and the time he had spent helping Pepper. Most of all, he would miss spending time with Tony, whether that be in the garage or somewhere else around the lake house. He had been happy here; well as happy as possible considering the predicament he was in.

A phone rang. Peter’s spidey sense went off.

“Whose phone is that?” Pepper said, “F.R.I.D.A.Y usually overrides the phone signal for most phones apart from mine.”

Everyone looked around, confused until Ned pulled a phone out of his pocket.

“It’s mine, but it’s an unknown number.”

“Don’t answer it,” Peter said, but without Ned doing anything, the call was received and put onto speaker.

“_Parker, I know you can hear me.” _An all too familiar voice said, “_I thought I’d send you birthday wishes.” _

Everyone had gone eerily silent; all were focused on the phone call.

“_I would’ve sent you a gift but I didn’t know it was your birthday until this morning.” _The voice continued, “_So I thought that I’d send you a little message instead. I want you and your new daddy to know that I’m coming for you both, and soon both of you and everything you hold dear will be gone. Only Mysterio will remain._”


	20. The Final Plan

The next day, Peter stood in the garage staring at the final plan laid out on the workbenches and walls in front of him. A few days previously, the surfaces in the garage were barely visible underneath all the papers and maps that had exploded across the room during Tony and Peter’s endless sessions of planning over the past few weeks. Now, those papers had slowly been removed to reveal a cohesive plan detailing how Mysterio was going to be taken down at last.

Peter would go to Queens and wait in his apartment for his signal. When he received it, he would sneak into Midtown, using one of the computer labs to upload the real video showing what actually happened on Tower Bridge. Hopefully, that would lure Mysterio out of the shadows. Then, he was just a man in a suit with a few holograms. Peter could easily take him down.

“Not bad, huh?” Rhodey said. After the phone call and the party fizzling out in the aftermath, he’d stayed to help formulate the final plan.

“It’s good, but we’re still not ready yet,” Tony said. Peter looked at him confused. They had their plan. What else was there?

“We need to refine your combat skills,” Tony clarified, “You need to make sure that you’re your very best when you finally meet Mysterio, so you can take him down without a problem. It’s either that, or you have someone on standby in case you need assistance.”

Peter shook his head, “No,” he said abruptly. When he saw the taken aback expressions upon Tony and Rhodey’s faces, he elaborated. “No, thank you. This is something that I have to do alone. I’ve done it before and I can do it again.”

“Okay if that’s what you want then we’ll respect your wishes,” Rhodey said.

“But if you’re refusing assistance on the scene, then combat training is necessary, Underoos.”

Peter sighed and looked at Rhodey and then at Tony. From the looks on their faces, he could tell that there was no way of getting out of this.

“Fine,” he said reluctantly.

The two older men smirked and exchanged a glance like they fully expected this reaction out of Peter.

Ten minutes later, they were stood in the woods a short distance away from the house. Well, Peter was standing opposite several practice dummies. Tony and Rhodey, on the other hand, were leaning against some trees. They had decided that their previous injuries combined with Peter’s strength was not a good combination and would only result in further injury and no real progress to Peter’s combat skills.

“Now, Underoos,” Tony said, “Rhodey reviewed some of the footage from the Baby Monitor Protocol-“

“That’s still a thing?” Peter asked, rolling his eyes.

“Of course it’s still a thing,” Tony replied, “It’s going to be a thing as long as you still use Karen. Now back to what I was saying, Rhodey reviewed some of your previous footage and decided that you’re too reliant upon your webbing in fights. And, from what I’ve seen myself, I agree.”

“So, no web-shooters until you’ve successfully taken down all of the practice dummies using only the skills and techniques I’m about to show you. No web-shooters. No weird Spidey gymnastic skills. Just good old combat skills,” Rhodey expanded, walking up to stand next to him.

Slowly, Rhodey demonstrated various stances and moves to Peter, who imitated and was able to pick up upon what he was being taught quickly. However, when they decided to use a dummy to practice the punches and kicks he’d been taught, they discovered there was value in Peter pulling his punches. When Peter punched one of the dummies with his full strength, he managed to successfully break it apart into a dozen pieces.

When he’d done that, Tony just stared at him with his mouth slightly agape. “Really Underoos? I designed those to withstand Capsicle’s strength and you just blew it to smithereens!”

“Sorry,” Peter mumbled.

“No don’t apologise,” Rhodey said, “Now we just know why you pull your punches so we now can help you more.”

After helping Peter refine his technique knowing this new piece of information, Rhodey and Tony were satisfied with the progress Peter made with his technique and allowed him to start fighting the dummies.

When the first dummy started moving towards Peter, he was ready. When it moved to punch him, Peter ducked under its arm and then gave the dummy an uppercut to its chin. The dummy went flying to the other side of the clearing. 

“Not bad, Spider-ling, but let’s see if you can take them down when multiple ones are coming towards you at once,” Rhodey commented.

Suddenly, they all started coming for him at once. Some moved faster than others, yet they all were closing in around him. A few weeks ago, Peter would’ve freaked out as the movement of the drones were too similar to the illusions he’d been put through a few weeks ago. Now, Peter wouldn’t let himself go back to that place. He’d been through enough. He wasn’t going to let Mysterio control his life anymore. So, Peter dodged punched and kicked his way to make sure all of the dummies were on the ground.

When he’d finished, Peter pushed his sweat-soaked hair away from his eyes and looked over at Tony and Rhodey. They were smiling.

“What?” Peter asked, “What did I do?”

“Everything we asked,” Tony said, “Now it’s time for you to move onto stage two.”

Peter just looked at them. _There’s a stage two? How much more is there going to be?_

Tony, as though he’d read Peter’s mind, said, “We need to combine what we’ve just taught you with your spidey powers, and then we need to make you practice using the same tech as Mysterio uses in his illusions.”

“You mean B.A.R.F?” Peter asked.

“Well kinda. This is the version of it that Mysterio worked on before he was fired and I made the final alterations.”

Combining his spidey-powers with what he’d just learned was much more difficult than it sounded. Peter kept reverting to his just solely using his powers to defeat the dummies. He didn’t see why that was a problem, but, according to Tony and Rhodey, that wasn’t the point of the exercise so they kept making him start over until he got it right. Eventually, however, Peter finally found a way to combine his powers with his newfound skills that the other two found to be satisfactory for what they needed. By that point, Peter was soaked in sweat and severely out of breath, which said a lot considering he’d had enhanced stamina.

“Now,” Tony said, pulling a pair of glasses out of his pocket, “To replicate Mysterio’s illusions, you’re going to wear these, which will allow you to see the illusions. You’re going to see lots of things coming towards you, but they’re not all going to be real. So, we want you to use your spidey-sense to sort the real from the fake and then defeat the real using what you’ve just learnt.”

“Okay, I’ve got it,” Peter said, taking the glasses and putting them on.

“Just remember to combine the techniques you’ve learnt with your powers. And also you need to just ignore the things you’re spidey-sense doesn’t pick up on,” Rhodey elaborated.

“Yeah, just listen to the Peter tingle,” Tony said which caused Peter to groan and Rhodey to crack up in laughter.

“Peter tingle?” Rhodey laughed, “Who came up with that?”

“May,” Peter groaned, “Who’s got to stop telling people about that.”

Once Tony and Rhodey had gotten over their laughing fit, they re-took their positions in the woods. Peter closed his eyes.

“You ready Underoos?” Tony called.

“Always,” Peter replied.

After a few more seconds, he opened his eyes. The trees had disappeared replaced by an empty blackness. Suddenly, a figure came towards him. Peter swiftly flipped to avoid it then attempted to punch it, only for his fist to go right through its body. It wasn’t real.

“_Use your spidey sense, Peter_,” He heard a voice say in the distance.

He took a breath, and when he saw the next figure appear, he felt his spidey sense flare-up. So, Peter easily moved to defeat the figure. This continued, only now every time he got past a figure, more and more would appear. Some of them were real, some of them weren’t. It didn’t matter, because now that Peter was listening to his spidey sense, he knew exactly when to dodge and attack. Soon enough, he’d become so accustomed to the movements that they became second nature to him.

Eventually, the blackness dissipated, and the trees came back into view. Peter found himself hanging upside down from one of the trees.

“Hey, spider monkey, you can come down now,” Tony called up.

So Peter flipped off of the tree and landed crouched in front on Tony and Rhodey.

“You couldn’t have climbed down like a normal person?” Tony said.

“Well yes, but this was more fun,” Peter said, straightening up.

Tony sighed and Rhodey shook his head, smirking. Those two really were so much alike.

“Okay, so I think we’ve finished here Peter, you’ve improved considerably today,” Rhodey commented.

“So now is where the real fun begins.”

“Tony,” Rhodey reprimanded.

“What? You know that I find the tech side of things more fun. And the kid does too, don’t you Peter.”

“Yes, I mean, no offence Mr Rhodey.”

“Don’t encourage him, kid.”

They walked towards into the garage, where the Spider-suit he’d built on the plane was laid out next to several other pieces of tech.

“So, you have the skills to beat Mysterio, all we need now is the tech,” Tony started.

“That reminds me, Peter before we begin, how did you know that Mysterio was still out there?”

“I didn’t, not definitely. Just something felt off on the bridge, my spidey sense was picking up on something. When the video was released I just put two and two together. I didn’t know for sure until I saw those news reports and he cornered me in the woods,” Peter explained.

“Anyway,” Tony said, “We won’t be able to prove that to the world if we don’t have the tech. Now, we have the suit that we’ve been working on. You remember how to use the stealth mode right?”

“Just ask Karen,” Peter smiled, he’d missed his companion. He hadn’t had time to install her into the suit he made on the plane but he was glad she was back.

“Exactly,” Tony said, “Now for you to be able to contact everyone whilst you’re on a mission, you’re going to need to wear these.” He held up two small earpieces and a set of contact lenses.

“They’re going to let everyone who needs to see and hear everything that’s going on. So that’s me, obviously, Ned, MJ and then May and Rhodey in case of emergencies. We’re all going to have a set of earpieces as well, so we can all contact one another if need be.”

Peter nodded. They had everything set. They had all of the tech and they had a full proof plan. Waiting would just be a waste.

“So, when are we leaving?”


	21. Noticed

Peter hadn’t expected to feel like this when he finally returned home. He hadn’t expected to feel as out of place as he did. While he’d been at the lake house, he’d been so focussed upon getting his life back, yet, life in Queens had continued without him. The Queens he left didn’t exist anymore. Yes, he’d only been away for a relatively short period but it was going to take a while to find his place in the community that had changed without him.

They’d driven down to Queens first thing this morning. They’d left so early that the sun had barely risen over the lake house; the stars had still been visible, twinkling across an indigo backdrop. Tony had wanted him to sleep during the journey but they both knew that sleep wasn’t going to happen for Peter; his brain wasn’t going to let him rest when he the fight for his life was imminent. Instead, Peter just stared out of the passenger window, anticipating what was to come and he watched the scenery blur past him as he and Tony drove past.

He was stood in his bedroom in his apartment, looking at his reflection in the mirror. For the first time since the video had been released and he’d arrived at the lake house, he was in his Spider-Man suit, and boy it felt incredible. Wearing this suit, he felt more like himself than he had done in weeks. Queens had changed but the way he felt whilst wearing the suit hadn’t. He was at home in this suit.

He was home.

“Peter,” May called from the living room.

He stepped out into the corridor and walked into the living room, where May and Tony were waiting for him. They had the television on, as the signal they were waiting for was going to appear on the TV.

“How do I look?” Peter asked. May and Tony turned to look at him and they smiled.

“Never better,” May replied, her eyes almost glistening from the pride she felt.

“Are you sure you didn’t want the gold? I mean, it’s not too late to change it.”

“Tony,” May reprimanded.

“What? All I’m suggesting is that red and gold is a great colour combination.”

Peter started pacing up and down the living room, going over the plan in his head. He needed to make sure that he remembered everything. Forgetting even the slightest thing would be a fatal mistake. He hadn’t realised his breath had quickened until Tony spoke again.

“Kid?” He asked tentatively.

“What if this is all a mistake? What if I’m just going to make my situation a whole lot worse? What if I never get my life back? Then what? Will I just be a fugitive on the run forever?”

“Kid,” Tony said, standing up to face Peter, “Take a breath.”

Peter ignored him; instead, he just continued pacing up and down the apartment, continuing to fret about their plan. Tony continued to try and talk to him, but Peter wasn’t listening.

“Hey,” May finally intervened, standing up and placing her hands on Peter’s shoulders to stop his pacing, “You’ve got this.”

“Have I?” He whispered.

“Yes. You want to know how I know?” Peter nodded.

“Because you are Peter Parker. It hasn’t got anything to do with Spider-Man. You’ve never given up on anything in your life, and that isn’t going to change now. I know you’ve got this because you won’t give up until you’ve succeeded, or at least you’ll die trying.”

“Exactly, you will not be dying trying today,” Tony interjected, who then received an almost glare from May, “What? It’s true. He won’t have to die trying because you’ve got this Underoos, I’ve never been surer of anything.”

“Really?” Peter whispered.

Before either Tony or May could reply, the news played the music that normally indicated a breaking story. The three of them turned to watch.

“This just in,” the lady on the news said, “Members of the group formerly known as _The Avengers_, including Dr Bruce Banner and Colonel James Rhodes, have issued a statement in support of the masked vigilante known as Spider-Man. The Queens-based hero, believed to be high schooler Peter Parker, is currently wanted by the authorities in connection with the attack on London in June. However, the Avengers have spoken out in support of him, saying that ‘Spider-Man has put his life on the line multiple times to protect everyone from the Little Guy to the cosmos as a whole. He is good, brave and noble and would never choose to put people in danger or betray his mentor’s legacy.’ The website DailyBugle.net –“

“Well Underoos, I guess that’s your cue,” Tony said.

Peter took in a breath and rose to his feet. It was now or never. Walking towards the window, he pulled on his mask. He turned back to May and Tony when he reached the window as if he wanted one final piece of reassurance before he did this. Understanding this need, they both smiled at him and gave a gentle nod. That gave him the one final push that he needed to leave. He opened the window, shot a web at the opposite building, and swung from it.

If the task on hand wasn’t so daunting, he would’ve laughed himself into euphoria. This is where he belonged. This was right where he needed to be. Swinging high above the New York streets in plain sight, just casually on his way to fight just another bad guy. The last time he’d travelled through the streets like this, he’d longed for anonymity; he’d longed to reach sanctuary without being noticed. Now, he didn’t care. Slinging in plain sight was part of his plan. When people pointed up at him to their friends, it was just further feeding his bait. He wanted to be spotted. He wanted to be noticed. All he hoped was that his trap would work.

It didn’t take him long to reach his destination: Midtown School of Science and Technology. He practically knew the place like the back of his hand, choosing there for his task gave him a sort of home-crowd advantage.

He landed on the roof and switched on his comm. link to Ned and MJ.

“Ned? MJ? Can you hear me?” He whispered.

“Peter?” His friends responded.

“Listen, I haven’t linked Tony onto the comm. yet. I wanted your word that you’ll do something for me first, something that kinda involves breaking federal law, but I want your word that you’ll do it without telling Tony before you do it.”

“Peter-“

“Just promise me. I don’t want to start before I’ve gotten your word,” Peter said over his friends’ words of confusion.

“Okay, you have our word,” MJ said.

Peter explained what he wanted them to do whilst he manoeuvred his way down the wall and through a window that had been left open. He needed this contingency plan. He needed all bases covered, just in case something would go wrong. He wasn’t going to take any chances with his freedom.

The corridors were deserted. From the research they’d compiled, no one should be in the building at this time but still, Peter clung to the ceiling, terrified of being noticed by someone who would be all too willing to turn him in. Or at least, he wouldn’t drop to the floor until he’d gotten the all clear that no one was there.

“Peter?” Tony said through the comm., Peter had turned on his comm. to Tony after he’d explained what he wanted them to do.

“I’m here,” Peter whispered as he navigated the ceilings whilst upside down. Despite the countless number of times that he’d walked these halls, navigating them upside down was significantly more confusing.

“Okay good. I’ve had a look at all the security cameras and there is no one else in the building beside you. It’s okay for you to drop down; it’ll save you from disorientating yourself. But go slow; we need you to be careful. Who knows what traps Mysterio may have left.”

“Okay,” Peter replied. However, as he lowered himself to the floor, the all-too-familiar spidey sense screamed that there was impending danger somewhere. Peter finished lowering himself to the ground, bracing himself for the oncoming blow.

Turns out lowering himself to the floor was the danger he was being warned about. For as soon as he’d landed on the floor, a shock wave reverberated throughout the floor. It felt like an earthquake was ripping its way through the building. The power of it caused the ground to shake and the windows to shatter into a thousand pieces. More drastically, however, the power of it threw Peter into the air and out of one of the now broken windows.

He didn’t have the time to catch himself before he hit the hard, sun-baked ground.


	22. Execute Them All

There was a ringing in his ears.

The ground he lay on was sharp and very uncomfortable. Peter had landed on top of the shards of broken glass that had been blasted from the windows. Millions of glass pieces sparkled as they reflected the midday sunlight. The pieces right next to him were stained with blood, Peter’s blood. There were small tears in his suit where the glass had pierced through, bloodstains seeping through. But Peter didn’t notice. All he could notice was the ringing in his ears.

_Clever. Try and take out the super senses. Real smart Beck. _

Slowly, Peter rose to his feet. He seemed fine. Well, blood was running down his leg and out of his nose and he was pretty sure that he had cracked a rib or two but that wasn’t going to stop him. Besides, he barely noticed anything beyond the ringing in his ears.

“Peter!” He thought he heard someone say, but it was too faint. Maybe he just imagined it. The only thing he was sure of was that there was a ringing in his ears.

“Peter!” There it was again, louder this time, maybe it wasn’t imagined. Was the ringing getting fainter?

“Peter!” The voice, or rather voices, were trying to fight their way through to become recognisable for Peter, but the ringing closed around him like a fog.

“Peter!” Peter’s hearing suddenly came back to him like a tidal wave hitting him all at once. Tony, Ned and MJ were all frantically trying to check up on him.

“I’m okay;” he said slightly hoarsely, “the corridor was rigged. I was knocked out of the window the second I touched the ground. But I’m okay, honestly.”

Slowly, he limped back inside. His spidey senses were screaming at him to turn and run as far away from there as possible but that wasn’t an option. He had to see this through. The glass in the doors had all shattered, so all Peter had to do to get back inside was simply step over the door frame and into the corridor.

“Ah Peter, so good to finally see you in person,” an all too familiar voice said. A few weeks ago, this would’ve made Peter’s blood run cold. It did make his blood run cold. But now, Peter wasn’t going to put up with any of this bullshit. He was so done; he just wanted his life back.

“So you finally decided to come out of the shadows rather than hide behind some mo-cap suit, did you?” Peter asked.

“How do you know I’m not an illusion?”

“Cut the bullshit, Beck. I know it’s you behind the fishbowl you call a helmet.”

For a fleeting moment, there was a slight wavering in his body language. Mysterio hadn’t considered that Peter’s spidey sense would notice it was him. He probably didn’t realise that Peter had his spidey sense, to begin with. Peter smirked, he had this. However, that moment soon ended, and Mysterio seemingly regained the composure that he previously had.

“What are you doing here, _Parker_?” Mysterio asked.

“I’m trying to get my life back. The life _you_ took from me.”

“Ha!” Beck laughed, “Do you think that’s going to work? I have the public in the palm of my hand, right where I want them to be. Do you think that they’re going to listen to what a disgraced teenager has to say against their hero Mysterio, who died trying to save them?”

“I’m not going to say anything to them; I’m going to show them,” Peter said bluntly.

“Not if I have anything to do with it,” Beck growled, before pressing a button on his armour.

Suddenly the corridor they were stood in flooded with darkness. A fog rolled across the ground so think that Peter’s feet disappeared beneath it. Mysterio disappeared into the darkness, concealed behind his illusions. _Two can play at that game._

“Karen, initiate stealth mode,” He whispered. The AI swiftly fulfilled his request, and Peter disappeared into the darkness like Beck had seconds before.

Without anything to aim at, the images Mysterio had formulated had no target. To compensate, things came flying across the corridor in all directions. With his spidey sense, Peter easily knew when to duck to avoid getting struck. He could also use Karen to see where Mysterio was standing. Beck really had underestimated him.

In no time at all, he was able to get close enough to Mysterio that he was able to draw back his fist and punch Mysterio’s helmet. Peter heard the unmistakable sound of the glass in Mysterio’s helmet cracking and sensed Mysterio recoil from the blow. His training had come to good use, it wasn’t powerful enough to seriously injure Mysterio, but it was strong enough to disorientate Mysterio.

There was no movement for a second. Both of them seemingly remained invisible within the illusion. Peter could still see Mysterio through the use of Karen, but Mysterio didn’t need to know that.

Suddenly, Mysterio lunged at Peter, aiming to physically take Peter down, but that was never going to work. Peter jumped up to the ceiling to avoid Mysterio’s hit. When Mysterio realised that he’d missed hitting Peter, he reverted to sending objects flying in all directions.

He bounced from wall to wall, shooting webs at Mysterio as he moved. Taser webs to immobilise him, normal webs to trap him.

He almost had him completely webbed up when the illusion suddenly disappeared, bringing Beck back into full view.

“Congratulations Peter, you were ninety-eight per cent successful in webbing up your target,” Karen announced.

_Ninety-eight?_

Peter could see it now; Mysterio’s left hand was exposed. A hand that was holding a small device, which was activated before Peter could react.

A high pitch wailing reverberated from all the surfaces in the corridor. Peter fell to his knees, covering his ears with his hands. Too high. Too loud. The wailing threatened to tear his body apart. He cried out in agony as his whole body fell to the floor. He was stuck there, writhing on the cold hard ground, unable to control his movements through his agony.

Suddenly, the wailing disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. Slowly, Peter turned round to lie on his back panting, trying to regain a sense of his senses.

“What do we have here, Parker?” Beck boomed, stomping his feet as he approached Peter. He loomed over him, leering down at Peter. He’d retracted his helmet, so Peter could see the smug look of victory on his face. Peter winced; he was so doing that because he knew it would hurt him.

Slowly, Peter rolled his head to see what Mysterio had seen. It was the pen drive. The pen drive with the video. The video that was going to clear his name.

Mysterio laughed, “Did you think that was going to work?”

He stamped on it, and Peter could hear it crumble into dozens of tiny pieces.

“Amateur,” Mysterio remarked before turning to walk away.

Peter started to laugh. Bursts of laughter forced their way through his body so forcefully that he couldn’t control them.

Mysterio turned back around to look at him.

“Why are you laughing?” He asked, practically begging for an answer.

“Why are you laughing?” Now Peter truly had him unnerved. Peter just continued to laugh while Mysterio looked at him, unsure of what to do.

Eventually, Peter regained enough composure to speak. “Did you think I was stupid enough not to have a backup plan?” 

“What?” Beck and Tony, through the comms, said simultaneously.

“MJ, Ned, do it,” he croaked, his voice hoarse from the laughter, giving Ned and MJ the signal they were waiting for.

Mysterio looked around frantically as if Ned and MJ were going to suddenly appear from around the corner. Instead, all the screens in the corridor switched on.

_“Beck, you lied to me and I trusted you,” the Peter on the screen said._

_“That’s – the most – disappointing part,” the on-screen Mysterio whispered, clutching his stomach. _

_ After a moment, he continued, “You’re a good person Peter, such a weakness.” _

_“Stark was right, you do deserve them,” he finished, pulling the glasses off a holding them out for Peter to take. However, instead of taking the glasses from Beck, he reached out to the side and grabbed hold of something invisible. A gunshot went off. The Beck on the ground jolted and suddenly faded away. A second Beck appears, wearing the glasses and holding the gun that seconds before was aimed at Peter’s head. Peter’s grasp of Mysterio’s arm caused his grip on the gun to falter so it fell to the floor. _

_ “You can’t trick me anymore,” Peter whispered, ripping the glasses off of Becks head and putting them on himself. The real Beck falls to the ground, his face ghostly white from the blood loss. _

_ “E.D.I.T.H, turn off the drones,” Peter commanded, rushing to the windows to watch the events unfolding._

_“Biometric scans complete, welcome back Peter. Shall I execute all cancellation protocols?” _

_“Just do it. Execute them all,” He insisted._

_“Confirmed.”_

“What did you do?” quavered Beck. His face had paled significantly, and his eyes darted from screen to screen, watching as the video was being played on repeat.

“I just simply broadcasted the truth across every screen in New York City. Now everyone can see what a fraud you are,” Peter whispered.

Not knowing what else to do, Mysterio flew through the window. _Huh, it seems like he finally gave that suit some useful functions. _Peter stood up and shot a web at the roof, following Mysterio in hot pursuit.


	23. Identity

Keeping up with Mysterio was easy. His cumbersome costume and cape slowed him down which made it so much easier for Peter to follow him. Edna Mode was right, heroes really shouldn’t wear capes.

The video was everywhere he looked whilst he slung through the streets. Billboards, phones, laptops, tablets, televisions. Every electronic screen was showing the video. Groups of people were gathered around shop windows, watching the video and then discussing it with their neighbours. Most were too consumed in their phones to notice the chase that was occurring high above them. All they cared about was the news that their hero was innocent after all. Peter was revelling in it.

May, however, was not.

“How could you decide to hack into every screen in the city? Do you have any idea how many federal laws you’ve just broken? You do realise that you go to prison for this, even though you’re supposed to be clearing your name?” She yelled through the comm., which she had clearly just stolen from Tony.

“It won’t get traced back to us, May. Ned knows how to cover his tracks,” He replied as he swung through the streets.

“Ned! You made your seventeen-year-old best friend complicit in this? Do you have any idea how reckless this is?”

“It won’t get traced back to us May. They won’t be able to prove anything,” Peter tried to reassure her.

It was Tony, who had somehow managed to get the comm. back from May, who spoke next.

“Hey Underoos, May will probably murder me for saying this but great back-up plan. There may be some legal jargon to deal with but it’s nothing my lawyers can’t handle. This is nothing compared to some of the stuff I’ve done in the past. Now, go catch that son of a bitch.”

The line went silent then. Tony had stopped talking to give Peter the chance to focus solely on the task at hand. Mysterio still showed no sign of slowing down though. He continued in his flight, towards the East River and Manhattan, with Peter in hot pursuit. Mysterio wasn’t even attempting to lose Peter; it was like he wanted Peter to follow him. That, or just get away from Queens as quickly as possible.

When they hit Manhattan, more and more people began to notice them. With the increasing height of buildings, Peter and Mysterio were noticed more by people who were in their flashy skyscrapers with their floor to ceiling glass windows. People were seemingly done with watching the videos on their phones and were becoming more occupied with the world around them. When they saw the chase outside, they ran to the windows and pointed at the scene outside, as if their companions hadn’t seen what was happening for themselves. Some of them even waved and called to Peter as he swung past like the past few weeks had never happened.

Eventually, Mysterio stopped his flight as quickly as he had started it. He skidded to a halt, causing a few passersby to jump to the side of the pavement to avoid being hit by him. He hovered a few feet above the pavement, Peter landed on top of a lamp post on the opposite sides of the street. They stared each other down for a few seconds in a temporary stalemate, neither of them wanting to make the first move.

The stalemate ended when Peter realised where Mysterio had led him.

“Madison Square Garden? Why lead me here?” Peter asked.

“I felt that it would be fitting to kill you in the place where I ruined your life,” Mysterio replied.

“I think you’ll find that this is the place where I’m going to restore my reputation, in the same place where I was when you decided to tarnish it.”

“You mean the place where I revealed your true colours?” Mysterio was speaking loudly, making sure that everyone who was in the vicinity was hearing what he was saying. He was still trying to paint the picture of himself as the hero and Peter as the villain. The man was delusional. Did he really think that he could continue with his web of entangled lies and schemes?

“I think the very fact that you’re standing in the middle of New York causes any arguments that you have that I’m the villain and you’re the victim to crumble don’t you think? After all, I did supposedly murder you,” Peter quipped.

“There’s still the issue of your identity. That video which you uploaded online didn’t show your face. How do these people know that the Spider-Man behind the mask is the same Spider-Man that’s in the video? How do they know that they can trust you?” Mysterio gestured to the crowd that had gathered around them, trapping them into some warped superhero enclosure.

Peter sighed, “You know what, Beck, you’re absolutely right. These people don’t know if they can trust what I’m saying.”

“I am?” Mysterio said, sounding confused. Peter smirked; this was going to be fun.

“Yes, you are. How can the people of New York trust that I’m telling the truth if they have never seen my face? So, here:” Peter pulled off his mask, revealing his face. The crowd audibly gasped at the revelation and there was a flurry of clicks as people rushed to document and share the moment where Spider-Man’s identity was confirmed.

“My name is Peter Benjamin Parker and I am seventeen years old. When I was fourteen, I gained these powers and decided that it was my responsibility to try and help the world become a safer place, even if it was just the neighbourhood that I called home.”

He paused and looked around at the crowd around him. There were still cameras pointed at him, but the crowd had fallen into a silence, transfixed by what Peter had to say. He took in a deep breath and continued.

“In the years since I became Spider-Man, I fought with the Avengers, I stopped a criminal who was dealing with alien tech, I died and was resurrected in the fight against Thanos, and I had the privilege of being able to help those who have needed my help. In that time, I will never try and say that I was perfect because I wasn’t anywhere close to perfect. I made lots of mistakes; you all saw what happened with the Staten Island Ferry when I got in too deep before I was ready. But in that time, I’ve always tried to look out for the little guy and protect those who needed protecting. I’ve never, and would never, intentionally harm the people that I swore to protect.”

“Tony Stark came and found me a few months after I became Spider-Man, and after a few bumps in the road, he became my mentor. He taught me everything that a hero is. He also taught me that it was okay to make mistakes from time to time. I am still human after all.”

“If this hadn’t happened, I don’t know if or when I would have revealed my identity. However, I know now that no one can use my identity against me ever again. I’ve taken back control over that aspect of my life and I will _never _let anyone else take that control away.”

When Peter finished his speech he looked down at the crowd. They were all silent, none of them quite knowing how to react. Some of them had their eyes fixed upon Peter, waiting for him to say some more. Those who were remaining were transfixed upon Mysterio, waiting for the moment when he would make his next move if he had anymore moves left. Mysterio wasn’t moving, whether he was frozen in shock or fear over what had happened or he was just genuinely unsure over what to do Peter couldn’t tell. So he just sat on his lamp post and waited for Mysterio to make his next move.

Eventually, Mysterio found his voice: “I think you’re forgetting one small detail, _Peter_. You’ve failed to mention that your beloved mentor is still alive.”

The crowd gasped, whatever they were expecting, it wasn’t that. They looked around one another as if the person standing next to them would give them clarification over this revelation. Peter, however, was wondering if or when he’d try and use that card. Mysterio was the type of person who would keep scraping the bottom of the barrel until his ability to talk was taken away from him.

“You want to try and tarnish the legacy of the man who saved the universe, especially when he’s not here to defend himself?” Peter asked.

“You mean your precious Mr Stark? Oh don’t worry; I’ll deal with him as soon as I’ve dealt with you,” Mysterio replied as a row of drones lined up behind him, all of them pointing towards him.

The crowd screamed and scarpered, fearing for their lives. Peter, however, knew better. Mysterio wasn’t going to start openly trying to kill innocent bystanders when he wanted to be their next hero. No, the drones were there for the sole purpose of killing Peter and only Peter.

In the distance, through all of the other noise, Peter could hear police cars coming closer. Now was the time to act. So, Peter shot a web at a nearby building and swung so he was clinging onto the wall. From there he flipped off the side of the building, shooting a web at one of the drones, which hit another drone as Peter pulled it. The drones tried to follow Peter’s movements but Peter was too quick for them. He was easily able to overpower each drone until they were mere pieces of rubble on the ground.

Soon it was just Peter and Mysterio, but Mysterio had nothing left to give in the fight that would even remotely threaten Peter. Mysterio retracted his already open helmet, and Peter could finally see his eyes. The facade that he had been presenting to the people had disappeared, and there was only fear in his eyes.

A moment passed where they just looked at each other. Many unsaid words were passed between them, and they both finally understood each other, and they were both able to comprehend what was going to happen. They were both going to get what they deserved.

Peter shot a web at Mysterio, then another, then another again. Within seconds, Mysterio was webbed up to a neighbouring lamppost. He had no moves left, he’d lost.

Peter had won.


	24. Reality?

It felt like he was detached the scene around him, like he wasn’t really there, like it wasn’t real. A thick fog was encompassing him, rendering him unable to make sense of his surroundings. The sounds were muffled, the images were blurred. Peter couldn’t process the scene around him. Nothing made sense. Nothing felt real.

Had he really done this? Had he really won?

Suddenly, the shock that had placed a filter upon his senses was forcibly removed, allowing a flood of senses to hit him all at once. Peter was suddenly blinded by the lights surrounding him, lights that were so strong that the filters in the mask lenses did little to effectively block it out. The sounds were so loud and numerous that he could not single out a particular one. They all were just clawing at him and attempting to rip him to shreds. His skin burned from the suit, it was too hot, too scratchy, too much like fire.

“Peter?” A voice asked. Peter couldn’t see where it came from but whoever it was brought him back to his senses so he could now take in the scene that surrounded him. The police had cordoned off the section of the street where he and Mysterio were standing, so he was separated from the crowd, at least for the time being. That was one thing at least: there was no one crowding him so he had to space to take everything in. There were currently two policemen guiding a very dazed looking, hand-cuff wearing Mysterio into the back of a police car.

“Peter,” Tony said again through the intercom, “Are you alright?”

“I think so,” Peter whispered, still slightly dazed.

“Well, I’ll be the judge of that later. Get to the Stark Industries building, Pepper’s waiting for you there and I’ll meet you as soon as I can.” Tony said softly like he understood how Peter must be feeling right now.

Peter didn’t need to be told twice. Although one policeman was walking towards him, wanting to ask him some questions, Peter pulled his mask on and shot a web at a nearby building and slung through the streets. As he swung through the streets, his thoughts buzzed throughout his head, so quickly that his brain couldn’t comprehend them. Was everything that just happened real? He hadn’t just imagined everything, had he?

The press were swarming the Stark Industries building by the time he got there, wanting to get Stark Industries’ official reaction to what had happened as soon as possible. But Peter was able to avoid them by climbing through Pepper’s office window which she had conveniently left open for him.

Her office was empty. He wasn’t surprised, Pepper was probably off somewhere dealing with the billion and one PR messes that he had just created. Still, with no one there, Peter wasn’t quite sure what to do with himself. Should he go and find someone or should he just wait until someone came and told him what to do?

He chose the latter option and so he sat on the edge of the sofa. His leg would not stop bouncing up and down though

Unable to stand the silence, Peter turned to his AI.

“Hey, Karen?” He asked.

“Yes, Peter?” She replied.

“I’m not imagining any of this am I?” He asked her, “This is all real, isn’t it? I’m not in another illusion am I?”

“No Peter, you have not experienced an illusion since you left your school.”

Peter sighed; somehow this still didn’t feel real.

“Hey Karen, how long is it until Mr Stark gets here?”

“Mr Hogan has just driven into the underground car park, so he and Mr Stark shouldn’t be too long now.”

Satisfied with his AI’s answer, Peter pulled off his mask and returned to bouncing his leg up and down on the sofa, despite the pain he was beginning to feel from the injuries he picked up from being blasted out of a window. He looked down at his legs and, sure enough, there were multiple tears in his suit, revealing even more cuts than he originally thought he had, some of them even had pieces of glass still in them. He wasn’t that well versed in dealing with his injuries, most of the time someone was there to help him with it. So rather than risking making it worse, he just sat there, waiting for Tony.

Finally, after what felt like an age, Tony walked through the office door. When he saw Peter sat nervously on the sofa, he took the medical kit that had presumably been left on the desk for Peter and knelt in front of Peter, beginning the task of cleaning up his injuries.

“Hey, Pete,” He said softly.

“This doesn’t quite feel real. I know this isn’t an illusion or a dream or anything like that but somehow it doesn’t feel real and I don’t know what to do now,” he explained.

“That’s fair. It’s understandable that you’re feeling overwhelmed right now. It’ll take some time for you to work it out though. We’ll work it out though.”

“Promise?” Peter whispered.

“I promise.” Tony reassured him, “But right now, we kinda have to deal with the media shit-storm that’s just been created. Pepper’s calling a press conference that we’ll both be expected to speak at.”

Peter sighed at the thought of having to speak-

“Wait. Both of us?” Peter asked. Tony nodded in response.

“No! Tony, no! You can’t!” Peter exclaimed.

“Yes, I do,” Tony said, moving to sit by Peter, “Mysterio outed me back there. Me being alive was always like your secret identity; it would only take one person to out me for it to not be a secret anymore. That person just so happened to be Mysterio. Fury’s cleared it, we’re going to make a statement at the press conference, and you can’t do anything to change that. The decision’s been made.”

“But it’s not safe for you; people will still come after you because they think you still have the stones.”

“The location of the lake house is still classified, and remember those contingency plans that I mentioned last time you were stressed about the safety of the lake house? Well, they’re still in place. And when school starts back up again in a few weeks, Morgan’s kindergarten _and _Midtown are going to have increased security for both of you.”

“Are you sure about this though? I mean, do you really want people knowing that you’re alive and starting to intrude in your personal life again?” Peter asked, if Tony was forced to do this because of him, then Peter had to make sure that Tony wasn’t going to suffer because of him.

“Kid, this is me we’re talking about, I understand more than anyone how this is going to affect me. I’m still retired, officially, and nothing will change that. Besides, I’ll just sue the ass off of anyone who tries to tarnish my good name.”

Before Peter could respond, however, Pepper walked into the office. She came and sat on the other side of Peter and pulled him into a hug.

“I know this is probably overwhelming for you right now but the press is here,” she said, “Are you ready for the conference? If you’re not then we can stall them but we can only keep them waiting for so long.”

Peter pulled away from the hug, “I’d rather get this all over with then I can go back to my apartment and get takeout after May inevitably burns whatever she’s going to attempt to cook.”

With that, Peter stood up and took the spider-suit that had also been left on the desk and took it into the next room to change. Once he’d returned from changing, he returned to see a slightly stunned Pepper and Tony still sat on the sofa. They definitely weren’t expecting him to say that.

“Well, are you coming?” He smirked.

Pepper briefed him as they walked down to the conference room. Only a few, trusted journalists and photographers were in attendance, and definitely no one from the DailyBugle.net, who had already been sued for releasing an image of a minor without permission and defamation of character. Pepper would speak first, giving a _brief_ summary of the events that had occurred in Europe and afterwards. Then, they would announce Tony’s survival, bringing him out before Peter would come onto the stage and answer a few questions. That didn’t sound so hard did it?

When they got to the conference room, Peter could see no more than fifteen reporters anxiously anticipating someone to show up so they could get their exclusive story about the two superheroes who had been forced into hiding, one to escape wrongful prosecution, one to protect the life that he had so narrowly clung onto after he risked saving the universe.

Pepper turned to look at Tony before heading onto the stage.

“Try not to insult anyone this time; we don’t want any pissed off reporters on our backs, again,” she instructed him.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Tony said casually.

Pepper just gave him a look which warned him not to speak out of term to the reporters. She then turned to Peter, “I know you’ve never done anything like this before but Tony and I will be with you the whole time and you don’t have to answer any questions that you don’t feel comfortable asking.”

Peter nodded, and, once Pepper had given him a quick hug, she walked up to address the reporters.

He watched Pepper as she gave her speech. She made it look effortless; Peter knew that he would never be able to speak like that in front of with that much poise. 

“You nervous?” Tony asked as he came up to stand beside Peter.

“What do you mean? I’m not nervous, what makes you think that I’m nervous?” Peter replied.

Tony just smirked, “Relax kid, those reporters can’t say anything bad without risking a lawsuit or worse.”

“I’ve just never done anything like this before and- and-“

“You’re scared that you’re going to say the wrong thing.”

Peter nodded in response, Tony put a hand on his shoulder, “It’ll be fine kid, just a few simple questions. If you get nervous just look at me and I’ll help you through it.”

They turned their attention back to the press conference, where Pepper was just finishing her summary of events.

“Now as you know, in the fight to reverse the blip, my husband made the choice to sacrifice his own life so countless numbers of others could have their miracle, a second chance at life,” The journalists all shifted in their seats, unsure of where Pepper was going.

“Here goes nothing,” Tony whispered to Peter, before walking forwards towards where Pepper was standing.

“After his sacrifice, my husband was taken to a classified location-“

“Where he was able to begin the long and painful road to recovery,” Tony interrupted her as he walked up to the stage. The reporters all swivelled round in their chairs to see Tony stood right behind them. There was a collective gasp as all of them apart from one’s mouths dropped open, all of them dumbstruck at what was happening before their eyes. The final one, a blonde woman, just shook her head, acting like she wasn’t really surprised at how Tony had pulled yet another surprise out of the bag.

The reporters’ heads all followed Tony as he walked up the aisle between the reporters and up to the stage. When he reached the front, he turned to face his audience and he smirked at their reaction.

“You all thought that you’d seen the last of me didn’t you?”

Tony’s words seemed to spark life into the reporters. Cameras started clicking, and pens started scrawling across notebooks, everyone was in the room trying to capture the moment where Tony Stark revealed himself to be alive.

“Before Pepper mentioned miracles. When I chose to do what I did at that moment, I was hoping everyone was going to get their miracle. The only thing that I had my doubts about was that I wasn’t going to get to see my daughter grow into the woman that I know she will become someday and the kid that I’d learnt to see as a son grow into the superhero that he’d always aspired to become. I understood that I wasn’t going to see my miracle come to full fruition. But I was okay with that, as long as everyone else got their miracle.”

The flurry of activity with the reporters continued as Tony paused.

“When I woke up just shy of four months ago, I was given yet another chance at the life that twenty years ago I never knew I wanted. A chance to have a peaceful life with my family, my completed family.”

“Obviously, the road to recovery hasn’t been easy but we’re getting there slowly. As I continue to recover, I ask for privacy so that my injuries can heal and Pepper and I can raise our daughter without having to worry ourselves with you reporters trying to worm another pile of lies out of our personal lives.”

“I am Iron Man, and I will always continue to be Iron Man, perhaps now being Iron Man takes a slightly more literal meaning,” he waved his metal arm in the air, “But my days of being a superhero are long behind me.”

“Bearing that in mind, when I found Peter, he was just a scrawny kid with the right intentions but no training. Since then, I’ve watched him grow into something I could never have imagined. He has proven time and time again that he is and always will be a better hero than I ever could’ve been. With that, I am happy to bring out Peter to answer some questions. Peter?”

The small group of reporters and photographers now seemed like an army to Peter as he walked up to the front of the room. He looked down at the floor as he moved, too nervous to make eye contact with everyone. As he moved, he could feel watching eyes follow him, almost piercing his skin as he walked past. He’d never been any good at public speaking. Never. Why did Tony think that this was even a remotely good idea?

The cameras continued to flash at him once they reached the front. He looked down at the floor, hoping that he would be able to block the flashes out of his vision but they were always there in his periphery. He wished it would stop, just for a few moments.

“Please can we ask that the cameras are put away for this part of the conference?” Tony asked, putting a hand on Peter’s shoulder as the reporters placed their cameras on the floor or in their bags.

“Thank you,” Peter mouthed to Tony, who just smiled and nodded in response.

When Peter turned back to the reporters, he saw that they all had their hands up waiting for Peter to call on them so they could ask their question. He gestured towards the blonde woman who didn’t look surprised before when Tony entered the conference.

“Christine Everhart, WHiH World News. My question is: why did you choose to keep your identity a secret?”

“Well,” Peter gulped, “I wanted to protect those I loved; I didn’t want anyone to come after my family to get to me. That, and I was fourteen when I became Spider-Man, I still wanted to be able to live like a normal teenager away from the public eye.”

He beckoned to the reporter sat next to her, “Alfred Krasinski, New Yorker. I want to ask: what are your plans now?” 

“I want to return to my old life as much as possible. I want to complete my senior year then hopefully go to college. Simultaneously, I want to continue to be Queens' friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, someone still needs to look out for the little guy. And when it’s needed, I’ll still continue my work with the Avengers to protect the earth when it needs it. But in the meantime, I ask for privacy. It’s going to take a while to readjust to my life so I ask for privacy whilst I attempt to do so.”

Questions continued in that manner for a while. Every time someone asked a question that was deemed to be too personal or invasive, Tony or Pepper stepped in with a warning. As the questions went on, Peter started to feel slightly more comfortable in this situation. Sure, he wasn’t comfortable but he felt like he could handle talking in front of the press.

Eventually, Pepper called the press conference to a close. Tony and Pepper led Peter out of the conference room and into the corridor.

“Let’s get you home Underoos,” Tony whispered as he led him down to the underground car park, where Happy was waiting for them.

“Hey Peter,” Happy smiled, “Let’s get you home, I dropped Morgan off with May when I picked Tony up, they’re waiting for you at you’re apartment.”

The drive back to Queens felt like it dragged by and whizzed by at the same time if that’s even possible. As they crossed the Queensboro Bridge, Peter itched to spend the evening with his aunt watching a movie and eating takeout.

Luckily, no paparazzi were waiting outside his apartment building when they got there. Peter was half expecting there to be some waiting to pounce on him as soon as the car pulled into the street. But, somehow, thankfully, that wasn’t the case.

When he got out of the car, he could feel eyes on them, watching as the three of them walked into his apartment building. There were no cameras, but passersby and residents in the neighbourhood watched as they moved. It wasn’t every day when two Avengers and the CEO of Stark Industries pulled up to this street in Queens.

“Petey!” Morgan exclaimed and ran into his arms as soon as he opened the door, “You did it! Everyone thinks you’re a hero again!”

“Thanks, Morgan,” He said, returning her hug. When he pulled away he saw May standing by the couch, smiling at him. He rushed into her arms.

“I’m so proud of you Peter,” She whispered.

When he pulled away and turned around, Peter saw Pepper struggling to put Morgan’s shoes on.

“Morgan, honey, we have to go back to the lake house now,” Pepper said.

“No,” Morgan whined, “Not without Peter.”

“I have to stay here Morgan,” Peter said, kneeling in front of her, “I have to get back to being a friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man and I can’t do that from upstate.”

“But you’ll come and visit?” She asked, throwing her arms around his neck.

“Of course, if Pepper and Tony will have me,” He replied, looking up at Pepper, who was smiling.

“You can come whenever you want,” Pepper smiled.

Morgan went with May to finish gathering her things whilst Peter stood up to face Pepper.

“Thank you,” he said, “For everything you’ve done in the past few weeks. You really didn’t-“

“I wanted to do it and it’s been a pleasure,” she replied, pulling him into a hug.

That left Tony. When he finished hugging Pepper, he turned to see Tony standing by the window. Neither of them said anything, neither of them knew what to say.

“I’ll walk you two out,” May said, “Let’s give these two a minute.”

Tony and Peter were left alone, but neither of them knew where to start.

“The stealth mode we came up with was really helpful,” Peter said after a minute of awkward silence.

“Yeah?” Tony smirked, beginning to move towards Peter.

“Definitely, it really helped with the mission. But I think with a bit more work we could- Wait what are you doing?” He asked as Tony pulled him into a hug.

“Just go with it, kid,” Tony replied.

A lot was communicated in that hug that both of them knew they would have never been able to communicate using words.

“I’m glad you’re not dead,” Peter said into Tony’s shoulder, “I’m glad you’re back in my life.”

“Me too, Underoos,” Tony replied, pulling away but keeping his hands on Peter’s shoulders, “But that doesn’t give you an excuse to give me greys hairs. I mean it; I don’t want to hear anything about you getting into any dangerous situations. If things get too dangerous, I want you to call me or one of the other Avengers.”

Peter smiled, “It’s going to be weird not spending every day at the lake house though.”

“Did I forget to tell you? We already agreed with May that you get to come to us every other weekend. You’re not getting rid of me that easily Underoos.”

Peter smiled, “No I guess I’m not, I was so close though.”

“Watch it, Underoos, or I’ll tell the press that you are a psychopath after all,” Tony warned as he backed towards the door.

“You wouldn’t,” Peter laughed as he watched Tony leave.

It didn’t take long for May to come back upstairs. She came back to her nephew changed out of his Spider-suit and lying on the couch already. She smiled and shook her head.

“Thai takeout and _Star Wars?” _

“I thought you’d never ask,” Peter smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone,
> 
> Thank you all so much for the continued comments and kudos, I appreciate it so much. I really struggled with writing this chapter when I wrote the first draft, I kept changing my mind as to whether to completely reveal Tony as alive to the general public. But, in the end, I decided Tony had to follow the same logic he gave to Peter. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter though. There's only the epilogue that's left to post, and that'll probably be out at some point next week.
> 
> In the meantime, I hope you enjoy and stay safe xx


	25. Epilogue

Peter groaned when the alarm went off. Rolling over, he pressed his pillow to his ear, hopelessly trying to block out the sound so he could get just a few more minutes of precious sleep. But, sadly, having enhanced hearing kinda stops any sound from being drowned out. He scrunched his eyes, wishing that he didn’t have to get out of bed. Staying in bed meant that he didn’t have to talk to anyone and not talking to anyone was good.

It had been several weeks since Peter had gone back to Queens and honestly, it was kind of a culture shock. Everywhere he went, even if it was just to get a sandwich from Delmar’s, people would recognise him. Some would just stop and stare and he walked past, maybe whisper something to their neighbour, which, with his hearing, Peter could always hear.

“Is that Spider-Man?”

“Is it true that he’s Tony Stark’s son?”

“He must be Tony Stark’s son if he was able to get the charges against him dropped so easily?”

“But Mysterio lied about everything. Spider-Man is the good guy.”

“But what if everything is just a big massive conspiracy? What if he really is a bad guy?”

The whispering didn’t bother him, he was used to it. He’d gone to school with Flash for the best part of twelve years, after all, he was used to having insults thrown at him as he walked past.

What Peter wasn’t used to were the people who treated him like a celebrity. They wanted autographs, to take selfies with Queens’ hero. Sure it wasn’t all bad, the little kids and those he’d helped in the past who to talk to him was a pleasure. But it was the teenage girls who fawned over him or the people who still genuinely thought he was a menace who were the worst; they were the ones who invaded his privacy the most. They were the ones who wouldn’t leave him alone, either screaming praise or abuse at him whenever he encountered them. They were the ones who caused him to return to his apartment in a panicked state. They were to ones who caused him to not want to leave the apartment on some days.

He knew life was going to be like this. He’d had weeks to consider it at the lake house along with an endless number of lectures from Tony and Pepper about what to expect from life in the public eye. He knew this was inevitable, he just wished he could leave his apartment without getting bombarded by hoards of people. It was even worse than when the press showed up. The flashes of the cameras and the yelling to request a quote always triggered a sensory overload, causing Peter to stagger in the opposite direction.

So in the few weeks he had been back in Queens, Peter had spent most of his time in his apartment with May, Ned and MJ. But today, he couldn’t avoid the world for any longer. It was the first day of senior year and despite all of the suggestions that he either graduate early or get homeschooled, Peter had stood his ground. No, he wasn’t going to let recent events stop him from getting the senior year with Ned and MJ that he wanted. He wasn’t going to hide in the shadows. How was he supposed to regain a sense of normality if he just retreated to the shadows?

Reluctantly, he opened his eyes. The gap between his curtains allowed for a beam of sunlight to break through into his room, creating a strip of light casting across the centre of the room. Within the strip, Peter could see the tiny dust particles floating down towards the ground before settling upon a surface.

He could hear May in the kitchen, making breakfast. Happy and Tony had both tried to insist that Happy accompany them to school but Peter and May had reassured them it wasn’t necessary. Besides, it was a tradition for May to drop him off on the first day; he didn’t want that to change. He’d have to be dropped off at the back entrance but he could handle that.

The smell of smoke finally drew him out of bed. Once he sensed it, he immediately, though reluctantly, forced himself out of bed to discover what May had burnt this time.

Sure enough, when he entered the kitchen, he discovered May opening a window to clear the room of the smoke that was coming from the blackened waffles that were sat in the frying pan on the stove.

“I’m sorry,” May sighed, “I wanted to do something special for today but I burnt it.”

“Its fine, May, don’t worry about it. I’m happy with just some cereal or something. Besides, we don’t have long until we have to leave anyway,” Peter replied as he scrapped the waffles into the bin.

May smiled and walked up to him, “It seems like yesterday when we were dropping you off at elementary school, now look at you, you’re all grown up.”

“May,” Peter whined at the sentimentality, it was too early on a Monday morning to be all sentimental.

“I’m sorry it’s just a big day,” she said, “Who knows what could happen.”

Peter pulled her into a hug. May was right; they both knew that a lot was riding on the day. If it went badly then who knew what the consequences would be for either of them. May had a right to be apprehensive about today. He was apprehensive, but he wasn’t going to let May or anyone else cotton onto the fact.

When they pulled away, Peter and May quickly fell into their usual routine. Within half an hour, the two of them were walking out of their door and down to the car.

“Now, do you need a recap of the security details?” May asked him once they had started driving.

“Wear my watch at all times, that way if I’m in distress at all someone will know they should to come and get me. Don’t go anywhere I don’t feel comfortable. Don’t answer questions about my abilities or Tony. Have either Ned or MJ with me at all times. Don’t be afraid to go ask a teacher for help. At the end of the day, don’t leave until someone picks me up,” Peter recited for what felt like the billionth time. He, May, and Happy (with strict instructions from Tony) had already discussed all of these measures with Principal Mortia last week when they came in for a meeting last week. Then practically everyone recapped those measures with him daily. He knew they were only trying to protect him, but the constant recapping was becoming tiresome.

They continued for the rest of the journey in relative silence, May was concentrating on the rush hour traffic in Queens whilst Peter enjoyed the view of the neighbourhoods that he’d been away from for so long.

His spidey sense went off before they saw them. That all too familiar tingling at the base of his neck began and the hairs of his arm stood on end. He put his hand to his neck, looking around to try and spot where the danger was.

“May something-“

“Oh shit!” May cut over him, staring at something directly in front of them. Peter looked to where she was looking, only to see a host of journalists and photographers surrounding the school gates. They swarmed around whoever drove past or tried to enter the school like flies. All of them wanted the inside scoop about Peter Parker’s school life. They wanted to know about his friends, his love life, his classes, nothing was private to them.

“Hey isn’t that him?” Peter heard one of them asked, pointing at the very car he was sat in. When they saw him, their cameras turned in on him and approached the car. The occasional flash soon became a torrent of flashes that drew closer and closer towards them. Peter had to close his eyes to avoid the impact.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got this,” May reassured him before she turned down the next side street before the cameras could catch up to them.

“Where are you going?” Peter asked.

“To the back entrance, the reporters can’t reach it as we’re entering the school ground. We had this as a backup plan because there was a high chance that this would happen,” she explained. Within seconds they were pulling up to the back entrance of the school.

Turning to her nephew, May said, “Now, are you ready?”

Peter turned to look at the building and sighed, “I think I’m as ready as I’m ever going to be.”

“No matter what happens you know I larb you right?”

Peter smiled, “I larb you too.”

“Okay now get out of here,” May said, giving his shoulder a gentle shove towards the door, signalling to Peter that it was time to face the masses.

After May had driven away, Peter stood and stared up at the school building looming over him. For the first time since he’d returned to school after Ben died, the building appeared to be taunting him, a menacing reminder about how his position at the school had inevitably changed once again. Back then, everyone looked at him with a distant pity; they all expressed their sympathies but no one quite knew how to make him feel better. They’d all left him alone after that. Well, everyone apart from Ned and Flash; Ned was his rock through that time and Flash had decided to add Ben’s death to the list of things he could torment Peter about.

Now, who knew how everyone would treat him.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated, signalling to him that he’d got a text.

**Tony: ** _Don’t worry, you’ve got this. _ _J _

Peter shook his head and smiled. Of course Tony had understood to message him some reassurance. Now that he’d had F.R.I.D.A.Y reinstalled back into the lake house, he’d not hesitated to message Peter every day with something Morgan had done that had made him laugh, a new idea for the suit, or just to check with how he was doing. He seemed to have regained the sixth sense to know exactly when he needed to text Peter, something which Peter was deeply grateful for.

After seeing the text, he messaged Ned and MJ telling them where to meet him before going to sit on the stairs. Hardly anyone came in this way so no one would notice him, but Peter nevertheless pulled the hood of his sweatshirt up over his head so no one would be able to see his face. He could hear the voices of the other students inside, happily reuniting after several months apart. He’d have to face them soon, but not just yet.

“Peter?”

Upon hearing his name, he looked up to see Ned and MJ standing at the top of the stairs. Peter let out a sigh of relief at the sight of them.

“Thank god you’re here,” he said as he stood up. Joining them at the top of the stairs, Peter kissed MJ on the cheek before doing his signature handshake with Ned.

“Who’d have thought that we’d have made it this far?” Peter joked, walking towards the back door of the school.

“What just nine years, three super-villains, two disastrous school trips and a radioactive spider bite later and we’re just making it to senior year?” MJ looked at him, a half-smirk forming on her mouth. Peter laughed at her comments and opened the door, stepping inside the building.

Almost instantly, the noise that Peter could hear from outside ended. The corridor was busy but the silence that gripped it was almost unnatural. Even with his enhanced hearing, Peter couldn’t hear a thing. All eyes were transfixed on him. Peter stared back at them, determined to not seem afraid of their attention. For a few seconds, Peter and the countless faces in the corridor stared at each other in a stalemate, neither knowing how to react to each other.

“Peter what-“ Ned stopped in his tracks when he saw the silent standoff in the corridor. MJ followed a second later, saw what was happening yet didn’t seem fazed by what was happening.

“We’re all in the same homeroom with Mr Harrington right?” She asked.

“Y- yeah,” Ned replied.

“Cool, our lockers are on the way so let’s go drop our stuff before going there,” she took Peter by the hand and squeezed it. That single gesture communicated to Peter that he had this and it was all going to be okay. He never loved her more than at that moment.

Slowly, the three of them began walking towards their lockers. The eyes that were staring at him before all followed the trio as they made their way towards the lockers. Gradually, the silence was broken by the whispers that inevitably followed the silence caused by Peter’s presence recently. Funnily enough, however, Peter for once didn’t take notice of what they were saying. Yes, he could hear them, he could hear everything they were saying but it didn’t matter now. At school, he had Ned and MJ fighting his corner and he didn’t need anyone or anything else.

Slowly, when those around them realised that Peter wasn’t paying attention to them, they got bored and turned back to their old conversations. At one point, Peter spotted Flash in the hallway and for what seemed like for first time in his lifetime, he seemed to be completely lost for words. Never would he have imagined that the superhero he had an Instagram page dedicated to was the guy he had called ‘Penis’ since elementary school.

Once they’d reached their lockers, Peter placed his unneeded books inside before continuing to homeroom. Luckily, they were the first ones there so the three of them took the best seats at the back of the classroom and watched as the rest of the class filed in. Most of them gave a quick glance at Peter before pointedly staring out of the window or at the floor.

Most of them.

When Betty entered the room, it was Ned whom she tried to avoid looking at before she sat as far away from him as possible.

“What the hell is going on there?” Peter blinked at his friend, who shrugged.

“You know, life just is funny in the way that you fall in love with someone and when you break up you try and maintain a healthy friendship but then it becomes just too painful for one of them because they haven’t gotten over their feelings for the other so you just end up drifting apart.”

Peter didn’t know how to reply to that.

“Alright everyone let’s get started,” Mr Harington said, walking into the classroom, holding a large pile of folders and books. He wasn’t looking at his class, instead of concentrating on a piece of paper on top of his pile. Soon it became clear that it was a class list he was inspecting as his eyes froze on a point on the page. For a second his eyes remained there, fixed on that spot until he looked up and scanned the room until he spotted Peter. He stood in the same spot for a second, mouth slightly agape.

_Great, so another person doesn’t know how to act normally around me. _

Frustrated, Peter raised his eyebrows at Mr Harrington, challenging him to continue staring at him. Startled, Mr Harrington hurried over to the desk.

“Right, welcome to the new school year-” he began, before tripping over his desk. Clearly he was too stunned by the presence of Spider-Man in his homeroom to look where he was going. The rest of the class laughed at Mr Harrington’s fall, Peter, on the other hand, sighed and slouched further down into his seat. This was going to be a long day.

The rest of the morning went in a similar fashion. Each class he was in, people would stare and whisper, students and teachers alike. At one point Peter even heard Mr Dell mumble something about witches as Peter walked out of his classroom. Some did a better job of hiding it than others, but they all stared nonetheless. Thankfully, it had been arranged (probably after Tony or Pepper intervened) that either Ned or MJ would be in every one of his classes. That way, he would never be alone. Peter was thankful for it, whenever too many people were staring; they’d just give his shoulder or his hand a comforting squeeze, letting him know that it was okay.

There were no major incidents until lunch. Peter, MJ and Ned had taken themselves off into a secluded corner of the cafeteria where not many people could see them. It was the first time that day when Peter didn’t feel like a zoo exhibit for people to gawp at and instead felt like he could be a normal person with his best friend and girlfriend. For the first time, they were able to talk about the things they normally spoke about.

That was until Flash found them after regaining his voice after losing it earlier.

“So they decided that you weren’t a criminal, Parker?” He smirked.

“So you decided that being a fish wasn’t for you, Thompson? Because I must say, that impression you were doing earlier was incredibly accurate.” Peter retorted.

“All I’m saying is that I’m surprised that they let you back into this school after everything that’s happened. But then again, you and your precious Mr Stark probably able to manipulate your way back into the school, maybe in the form of generous cash tip?”

What are you implying?” Peter said, standing up to face him.

“Peter,” MJ said, almost warning him at the same time as his spidey sense flared up. Looking up, he saw that a crowd had gathered around the table. In the hand of one of them, he saw a phone, filming the interaction between Peter and Flash. The sight reminded him of the position he was in. One wrong move would have catastrophic effects on the progress he’d spent most of the summer making.

“I’m not going to fight you,” He said quietly.

“Why not?” Flash challenged, the audience giving him more confidence, “You scared?”

“No, I just know that I have the strength and reflexes to seriously hurt you. I’ve never intentionally hurt anyone unless the universe was at stake and that’s not going to change just because everyone knows who I am. I’m not going to change everything I stand for just because you want to try and provoke me.”

“Are you sure about that Parker?” He said before pulling back his fist. However, Peter’s reflexes easily allowed him to catch it before it made contact with his face. Flash’s eyes widened as he stared at Peter’s hand holding his.

“Like I said,” He let go of Flash’s hand, it fell to his side, “I’m not going to fight you.”

Flash shut up after that. After staring for a few moments, he turned and walked away, muttering something about being able to get Peter to fight back one day. The small crowd seemed to lose interest as well so they soon dispersed. Peter turned back to his friend, exhausted by the lack of attention.

“C’mon, let’s get out of here,” Ned said, picking up his backpack, waiting for the others to do the same. He led them to an empty classroom, where they spent the rest of their lunch hour, mocking Flash for his attempt to try and stand up to Peter.

“You know,” Ned said, “The press will get bored eventually. Soon something new will happen so they’ll move on to focussing on that rather than trying to get the latest scoop about you.”

“Yeah,” MJ smirked, “Soon they’ll only bother you when they have nothing better to comment on or when it’s been too long since Tony has done anything stupid.”

Peter stared at them. Ned and MJ stared back. They all stayed like that for a second, just sitting there, staring at one another in a deadlock. Suddenly, Peter’s lips curled upwards and his shoulders began to shake. The smile became larger and until he suddenly burst out into a fit of laughter. Ned and MJ looked at each other, then at Peter, before they started laughing as well. Soon, the three of them were doubled over in their chairs, laughing uncontrollably. It got to the stage where none of them quite knew what they were laughing at, but they still couldn’t stop.

They continued like that until the bell rung, signalling them to head to their next class. For the rest of the afternoon, the three of them had to try and avoid looking at one another to avoid a resurgence of their laughing. People continued to stare at him, but that wasn’t going to change. But now, he was too preoccupied with trying not to laugh that he didn’t care.

When the final bell rang, the three of them went back to their lockers. However, the three of them stopped in their tracks when they saw Tony casually leaning against Peter’s lockers, wearing his best suit and his favourite pair of sunglasses.

“Ah, Underoos, there you are, I was beginning to wonder where you’d gotten to.”

“Tony, what are you doing here? I thought that I wasn’t supposed to see you until the weekend,” Peter walked towards him

“Change of plans, I wanted to take my favourite spider to dinner and to ask for his help with my latest project.”

“Okay, what’s this project we’re working on?” He asked.

“Now where’s the fun in telling you, I’d just ruin the surprise.”

Rolling, his eyes he did his handshake with Ned and kissed MJ before joining Tony and starting their walk down the corridor towards the back doors.

“You’re not going to make us leave out of the front doors?” Peter asked.

“No, we don’t want the press getting anywhere near you at the moment. Besides, it’ll be more fun when someone lets it slip that I was in the building and they realised they failed to get a picture of us together.”

Peter happily fell into his old routine of discussing anything under the sun animatedly whilst Tony listened (or at least, pretended to listen, Peter was never completely sure) and added a comment now and then. Tony laughed when Peter told him about Flash, glad that Flash no longer had a leg to stand on when it came it tormenting Peter.

It wasn’t until they were eating chocolate fudge cake in Peter’s favourite restaurant that Tony brought up this secret ‘project’.

“So, Underoos, I need your help with something,” He said, his voice taking a more serious tone.

“So I wanted to do something special for Morgan, considering everything that’s happened in the past year or so. And I was thinking, she’s never been to Disneyland...”

“Tony, did you seriously come all the way out here to help you plan a surprise trip to Disneyland for Morgan. Couldn’t this have waited until the weekend?”

“Well, Morgan might have cottoned onto something if we discussed it when you were at the lake house; we need to think of a special code to discuss it.”

Peter sighed and took a sip of his drink, exasperated at Tony.

“Also there’s a new potential threat that I needed to warn you about,”

Peter nearly spit out his drink, “Really Tony, this is how you choose to tell me about this?”

“I thought I’d lead with the Morgan thing so you wouldn’t be as tense when I told you about this.”

“Well clearly it didn’t work because now I’m concerned,” Peter retorted.

They spent the rest of their meal discussing these two things Tony had brought to the table. Well, they discussed them after Tony had to calm Peter down after he dropped the news in this way.

When they’d finished, Tony left the money on the table before they left through the side entrance. Peter stood back a little when Tony walked towards the car.

“Hey, Tony is it okay if I swing home? I just haven’t really gotten the chance to go out since I’ve been back and I miss it,” Peter asked.

Tony smiled, “Sure Pete, just try not to get into too much trouble and make sure you’re home by nine. May would kill me if you’re not back in time to do your homework. Also, let me have your backpack, May would also kill me if you lost yet another backpack on my watch.”

“I’ll see you in a few days?”

“Why do you say that like I had gone back on those plans? Of course, you’re still coming to the lake house.”

Peter smiled and pulled Tony into a hug.

“Thanks, Tony.”

“Anytime Underoos.”

Peter tapped on his watch, and the Iron Spider suit formed around his body.

“That suit was always my favourite,” Tony said, “I wonder who made it.”

Shaking his head, Peter shot a web at the side of the building and jumped.

The sun was setting over New York City as Peter swung alongside the buildings. As he moved high above the streets, he heard people call out greetings and good wishes to him. They were glad their friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man was back to be there for them and Peter was more than happy to oblige. After all, he had fought all summer to come back to this.

“Hey Karen, what have you got for me today?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's it, the story is finished. I first saw Far From Home a year ago today so I held back on releasing the final chapter until now because I thought it was fitting to release it today, considering I came home from the cinema with my mind completely blown then came up with the idea for this fic almost immediately because I couldn't face the idea of 2+ years before I got any answers. I don't know what I'll do next, I won't do a sequel unless I have a good enough idea for one. So, maybe I'll do a few one-shots or a completely new story. 
> 
> The past year has been crazy. Writing this really helped with the post-Endgame depression (although I'm not gonna lie, I'm still not completely over it) and it's been a crazy ride. Reading your comments have really made my day at times so I want to thank you for all the support you've given me whilst writing this. Your support really made writing this so much more enjoyable. 
> 
> I don't know when I'll be back, but until then, stay safe.
> 
> xxxxxxxxxxx


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